angelburst29
The Living Force
(CIJA) Commission for International Justice and Accountability
I sense, an investigation and background checks needs to be conducted on the CIJA organization? Some evidence suggests it's based or has a branch in San Francisco, California (USA). Recently, CIJA provided evidence in Court that found the Syrian Gov. and President Assad responsible for a Journalist death (Marie Colvin). A report, published today, accredits the CIJA with a German arrest of two Syrian citizens, claiming "suspicion of crimes including torture of prisoners" during their work for a "Syrian Intelligence service". Only identifying information is a "Anwar R" as a suspect. Information is vague and no real proof is forthcoming, other then their claimed "documentary evidence and witness testimony"? I wondering, if the CIJA was set up by an Alphabet group, for the sole purpose of discrediting "targets" that don't conform or agree with their Political objectives?
February 13, 2019 - German arrest is first big catch for Syria investigators
German arrest is first big catch for Syria investigators
German prosecutors said on Wednesday the man, identified as Anwar R., and one other Syrian citizen had been arrested on suspicion of crimes including torture of prisoners during their work for Syria’s intelligence service. A third arrest was made in France.
The investigation was supported by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), a team funded by the United States and several European governments, which has been quietly building cases for years.
Its deputy director, Nerma Jelacic, said CIJA had provided documentary evidence and witness testimony against Anwar R..
“For the kind of people you can find in Europe, this is a big fish,” Jelacic told Reuters.
This is the US lawsuit mentioned above. I was unable to locate any Court Dockets on the San Francisco Court ruling? I did find this statement of interest, considering the first article is describing a German arrest.
"Colvin’s family was represented by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which focuses on human rights litigation. The group’s executive director, Dixon Osburn, said the lawsuit was the first seeking to hold the Assad government liable for war crimes. Since it was filed, there has been some similar legal action in Europe, including Germany."
I sense, the CIJA is using the US Lawsuit and Judgement as a license, to further it's activities in targeting individuals and Governments, in an agenda to discredit and defame their opponents. The Political opinions of both, Germany and the US are that "Assad must Go"! Is the CIJA being used as a tool to spread false accusations and to exert Political pressure?
I sense, an investigation and background checks needs to be conducted on the CIJA organization? Some evidence suggests it's based or has a branch in San Francisco, California (USA). Recently, CIJA provided evidence in Court that found the Syrian Gov. and President Assad responsible for a Journalist death (Marie Colvin). A report, published today, accredits the CIJA with a German arrest of two Syrian citizens, claiming "suspicion of crimes including torture of prisoners" during their work for a "Syrian Intelligence service". Only identifying information is a "Anwar R" as a suspect. Information is vague and no real proof is forthcoming, other then their claimed "documentary evidence and witness testimony"? I wondering, if the CIJA was set up by an Alphabet group, for the sole purpose of discrediting "targets" that don't conform or agree with their Political objectives?
Germany’s arrest of a high-ranking Syrian suspected of crimes against humanity marks the first big success for a team of investigators who smuggled out a vast trove of incriminating evidence early in the war, one of its members said on Wednesday.
February 13, 2019 - German arrest is first big catch for Syria investigators
German arrest is first big catch for Syria investigators
German prosecutors said on Wednesday the man, identified as Anwar R., and one other Syrian citizen had been arrested on suspicion of crimes including torture of prisoners during their work for Syria’s intelligence service. A third arrest was made in France.
The investigation was supported by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), a team funded by the United States and several European governments, which has been quietly building cases for years.
Its deputy director, Nerma Jelacic, said CIJA had provided documentary evidence and witness testimony against Anwar R..
“For the kind of people you can find in Europe, this is a big fish,” Jelacic told Reuters.
In 2011 and 2012, Anwar R. headed Branch 251 and later Branch 285 of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate, where officials had free rein to detain and interrogate suspected opposition activists, she said.
“These two branches are the most notorious ones. One of our witnesses has described Branch 251 as the most effective, dangerous and secretive branch, and responsible for 98 percent of the violence committed.
“That branch was not only receiving people into detention but also carrying out raids and searches for individuals wanted for organizing the protests (against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule).”
Anwar R. would be on the third rung down from Assad and would not have had direct contact with him, she said.
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CIJA is led by Bill Wiley, a Canadian ex-soldier who advised the defense in the trial of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and is a veteran of the Rwanda and Yugoslavia war crimes tribunals.
By working with Syria’s opposition, not including groups designated by the United Nations as “terrorists”, CIJA managed to exfiltrate 700,000 pages from Syrian intelligence and security archives, a potential goldmine for human rights prosecutors.
Wiley told Reuters in 2014 that CIJA was preparing prosecution-ready dossiers, despite not having a court that would hear its cases.
Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court. Its allies on the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China, have blocked efforts to refer the situation to the ICC, despite reams of evidence collected by the United Nations, CIJA and others.
Jelacic said CIJA was now providing support to 13 countries, and was getting requests for assistance “almost on a daily basis”. It answered close to 500 requests from law enforcement last year, with information pertaining to Islamic State as well as Syrian government officials.
Last month its evidence and testimony were used in a U.S. lawsuit where a judge ruled that Assad’s government was liable for at least $302.5 million in damages for its role in the 2012 death of renowned U.S. journalist Marie Colvin.
This is the US lawsuit mentioned above. I was unable to locate any Court Dockets on the San Francisco Court ruling? I did find this statement of interest, considering the first article is describing a German arrest.
"Colvin’s family was represented by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which focuses on human rights litigation. The group’s executive director, Dixon Osburn, said the lawsuit was the first seeking to hold the Assad government liable for war crimes. Since it was filed, there has been some similar legal action in Europe, including Germany."
I sense, the CIJA is using the US Lawsuit and Judgement as a license, to further it's activities in targeting individuals and Governments, in an agenda to discredit and defame their opponents. The Political opinions of both, Germany and the US are that "Assad must Go"! Is the CIJA being used as a tool to spread false accusations and to exert Political pressure?
A U.S. judge has ruled that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is liable for at least $302.5 million in damages for its role in the 2012 death of renowned American journalist Marie Colvin while covering the Syrian civil war.
January 31, 2019 - US Court finds Syria liable for Journalist Colvin's killing
U.S. court finds Syria liable for journalist Colvin's killing
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling made public on Wednesday that the Syrian government “engaged in an act of extrajudicial killing of a United States national.”
Colvin, a 56-year-old war correspondent, and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs while reporting on the Syrian conflict.
The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court by Colvin’s family in 2016 accused officials in Assad’s government of deliberately targeting rockets against a makeshift broadcast studio where Colvin and other reporters were living and working.
The Syrian government was not involved in defending the lawsuit. As in other cases in which foreign governments are sued in U.S. courts, Colvin’s family is likely to face an uphill battle in recovering any of the damages.
Colvin’s family was represented by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which focuses on human rights litigation. The group’s executive director, Dixon Osburn, said the lawsuit was the first seeking to hold the Assad government liable for war crimes. Since it was filed, there has been some similar legal action in Europe, including Germany.
The ruling, Osburn added, could help pave the way for greater scrutiny of Assad’s conduct.
“It’s the first proving ground that the Assad regime has engaged in war crimes. He has engaged in a brutal set of crimes against humanity,” Osburn said in an interview.
The judge wrote that “a targeted attack on a media center hosting foreign journalists that resulted in two fatalities and multiple injuries ... is an unconscionable act.” The judge ruled that additional damages would be calculated at a later date.
The lawsuit described the attack as part of a plan orchestrated at the highest levels of Assad’s government to silence local and international media “as part of its effort to crush political opposition.” Some of the evidence supporting the lawsuit was provided by two defectors from the Syrian government.
Lawyers for the family included as evidence a copy of an August 2011 fax that they said was sent from Syria’s National Security Bureau instructing security bodies to launch military and intelligence campaigns against “those who tarnish the image of Syria in foreign media and international organizations.”
Jackson wrote in the ruling that the day before the attack, an informant provided the location of the media center to the Syrian government. That night, Colvin had given live interviews to CNN and two British broadcasters, the BBC and Channel 4.
There is evidence that Syrian officials celebrated after the attack, Jackson added.
In a 2016 interview with NBC News quoted by CNN, Assad said Colvin herself was at fault in her death. “It’s a war and she came illegally to Syria, she worked with the terrorists, and because she came illegally, she’s responsible of everything that befell her,” Assad said.
A biographical film about Colvin, called “A Private War” and starring British actress Rosamund Pike, was released last year, bringing fresh attention to her career.