Russian Human Rights group denounce Moscow over its role in war crimes in Syria

 Moscow’s direct participation in decade long Syrian Civil War leading to extensive human rights violations through horrific war crimes has been directly condemned by Russia based human rights groups. The rights groups released their first comprehensive report entailing abuses and war crimes in Syria in past decade and condemned involvement of Russia.

 

Moscow has been a direct participator in deadly and indiscriminate bombings that killed thousands of Syrians, openly supported Assad’s use of torture as a means of crackdown and its accountability in war crimes.

 

The 198 page report titled “A Devastating Decade: Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Syrian War” is the first report authored by Russian human rights groups and is based on interviews with Syrian war survivors currently in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia.

 

The report reads, “Russian state media does not report on the victims of bombardments, nor the forced displacement of civilians resulting in part from Russia’s military actions in Syria. As a result, the Russian public does not have sufficient knowledge to judge whom and what we are supporting in Syria, how much this war costs us, and how much suffering the war has inflicted upon civilians – people who have never taken up arms.”

 

The report is authored by few leading human rights defenders in Russia, including Memorial human rights centre, the head of the Civic Assistance Committee, Svetlana Gannushkina, as well as prominent members of the Soldiers’ Mothers of St Petersburg and the Youth Human Rights Movement.

 

Though the report also criticizes influence and role of other Western power in enabling and escalating the civil war in Syria. But the fact that groups have criticized Russia in a fresh perspective from within the country brings the report to fore-front. Report reads, “Influence entails responsibility. Given Russia’s key role in keeping the Assad regime in power, we urge the Russian government to use its influence on Syrian authorities to end arbitrary arrests, torture and degrading treatment in prisons, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.”