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International prosecutors on Tuesday said that despite China and Russia’s efforts to block war-crimes from Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it was still possible for them to go after those responsible for the crimes. Last month, Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which would have referred war crimes committed by both sides during the brutal Syrian civil war to the ICC. This is the fourth time Russia and China have blocked resolutions related to the conflict.
David Crane, a former international lawyer who arraigned Liberian president Charles Taylor, said, “Just because we have had one veto in the (U.N.) Security Council, it should not stop any of us from moving forward and seeking justice for the people of Syria”. However, Crane insisted that there are other options for justice, including special regional or national courts.
“All options are on the table.I know it’s a natural desire to seek quick justice. But justice will be done, over time”, he said at an event held after the UNHuman Rights Council session in Geneva.
Desmond Lorenz de Silva, former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said that several special courts, like the famousNuremberg trials held after World War II against suspected Nazi war criminals, were created outside the UN. “It’s already been done. Justice will be done in this case”, he said.
De Silva and Crane were two of the legal experts behind the “Caesar Report” released earlier this year, containing about 55,000 photographs depicting abused and tortured bodies of approximately 11,00 people it said died in Syrian prisons between 2011 and 2013. Both of them maintain that the report and the horrifying photographs that depict mangled, twisted and emancipated bodies provide clear evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes being committed in Syria.
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