North-Press Agency
Human Rights centers and organizations in Europe are instructing the Syrian refugees on how to file complaints against those who had a hand in the humanitarian crimes committed in Syria, especially those who now reside in Europe and have presented themselves as refugees in an attempt to escape the justice.
This comes after many European courts have responded to cases filed by Syrians against some persons, who previously participated in torturing and killing people in Syria during the years of war.
The last activity organized by the Violations Documenting Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) was in the city of Bordeaux in France, with the cooperation with partner organizations in France such as Tal-Abyad Forum, Kurd Rojava in Gironde Organization and Amal Afrin Association, included training meetings with the Syrian refugees for guiding them on how to seek justice in the committed crimes in Syria through several courts in Europe.
The meetings also include explaining the stages of filing complaints, investigation procedures, the process of trial and the awareness on the rights of the victims and the witnesses.
In this regard, Mustafa Abdi, the administrator at Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria, said to North-Press: “Through these meetings and sessions, we are trying to help the Syrians by providing an opportunity to gain the basic information needed to file a complaint in Europe for a criminal case against the person who committed the crime or to file a civil suit for compensation and justice.”
Organizing a series of such meetings with the Syrian refugees would help the Syrian victims who live now in Europe in how to seek justice for crimes committed in Syria before the national courts in the European countries, according to Abdi.
For his part, Dr. Ibrahim Muslim, the official in Tal-Abyad Forum and Amal Afrin Association, said that their goal is to provide a guide for the Syrian refugees who are residing in France and to guide them how to submit communications about the war criminals, who are likely arrived in France or any other European country, and to help them to recognize how to move in case they doubt about existing any terrorist actions, in addition to explaining the French law for them and the possibility of admitting the proceedings against the war crimes whether in Syria or in Turkey by the French courts.
Mostafa Rashid, an official in Kurd Rojava Association, also took part in the meeting and talked about the importance of “acquiring the tools and expertise,” and forming a network of relations to support the Syrian issue, and making pressure to stop war and achieve peace and the transitional justice.
Several Syrian human rights organizations have been active in Europe in recent years to submit legal cases against the persons who had committed violations of human rights that amounted to murder, Kidnapping, torture to death.
Lately in December, the German prosecute in Frankfurt accused a Syrian man of being a member in the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) and fighting in Syria between 2013-2015. The trial charges refer to the Syrian man’s leadership of an ISIS-affiliated group of twenty persons, during the period of ISIS control over large areas in Syria and Iraq.
According to the German media, the accused person was in charge of two areas in the Syrian governorate of Raqqa, which became ISIS de facto capital in Syria, and he came to Germany in 2018 and submitted for asylum as any Syrian refugee.
In February 2019, the German authorities arrested two former Syrian intelligence officers, after personal prosecutes against them, on charges of their involvement in torturing operations against opponents of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, during their time in the Syrian intelligence services.
The most recent news of the arrest of those accused of violations in Syria was the arrest of the former official spokesperson and the member of the militia of Jaysh al-Islam, Islam Alloush, by the French authorities last January, under the charges of war crimes and torture.
