14. Juni 2022

Kurzbeschreibungen zu den in dieser Anfragebeantwortung verwendeten Quellen sowie Ausschnitte mit Informationen aus diesen Quellen finden Sie im Anhang.

Welche rechtliche Struktur weist CIJA auf?

CIJA ist eine gemeinnützige Nichtregierungsorganisation (CIJA, 2021, S. 3), die laut Dr. Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Dozentin für Völkerrecht an der juristischen Fakultät der Universität von Edinburgh, in den Niederlanden registriert sei, jedoch aus einem anderen europäischen Land heraus arbeite und öffentlich finanziert werde (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1178). Laut Burgis-Kasthala, die 2017 und 2018 30 Interviews mit aktivem und ehemaligem Personal von CIJA, Berater·innen, sowie syrischen Ermittler·innen durchgeführt hat, hätten die Direktor·innen von CIJA 2015 eine in den USA eingetragene gemeinnützige Organisation namens „Groundscout“ gegründet, die sich auf die Bekämpfung von gewalttätigem Extremismus spezialisiere (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1185).

Wie setzt sich CIJA zusammen?

Laut dem CIJA-Jahresbericht von 2021 bestehe die Führungsstruktur der Organisation aus einem dreiköpfigen Vorstand und einem sechsköpfigen Kommissionsrat. Die Direktor·innen würden das Tagesgeschäft ausführen und sich regelmäßig mit dem Kommissionsrat zu Fragen der strategischen Ausrichtung im Zusammenhang mit Ermittlungszielen, operativer Planung, strategischen Partnerschaften und organisatorischer Führung beraten. Sie würden außerdem von einem Beratungsgremium unterstützt werden, das sich aus Rechtsexpert·innen mit umfassender Erfahrung in den Bereichen Strafverfolgung, Analyse und Verteidigung zusammensetze, die für die Gewährleistung der Qualität der Analyseprodukte von CIJA verantwortlich seien (CIJA, 2021, S. 21). Sowohl in Syrien wie auch im Irak gebe es spezielle lokale Ermittlerteams, die von internationalen Ermittlungs- und Rechtsexpert·innen ausgebildet, betreut und unterstützt würden (CIJA, ohne Datum (a)). Laut Burgis-Kasthala habe CIJA 2018 rund 140 Mitarbeiter·innen in zwei nicht genannten europäischen Städten, in Syrien, im Irak und an anderen Standorten gehabt (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1167).

Weisen die Mitarbeiter·innen besondere Qualifikationen auf?

Laut eigenen Angaben der Organisation werde CIJA von einer vielfältigen Gruppe von Fachleuten geleitet, die über umfangreiche Erfahrungen als Ermittler·innen, Analyst·innen und Jurist·innen in ihren Heimatländern und im internationalen Justizsystem verfügen würden. Weitere CIJA-Expertise komme von Spezialist·innen zu Sprachen und Ländern, sowie von regionalen Spezialist·innen, wie auch von Betriebs-, Sicherheits- und Beweismanagement-Unterstützungspersonal mit langjähriger Erfahrung auf ihrem Gebiet (CIJA, ohne Datum (b)). In einem Interview mit Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) erklärt Chris Engels, CIJAs Direktor für Ermittlungen und Operationen, dass sich CIJAs Team aus Ermittler·innen, Analyst·innen, Jurist·innen und Sicherheitsexpert·innen aus einer Reihe von Ländern mit Erfahrung in allen aktuellen Konflikten rund um den Globus zusammensetze (CSCE, 18. September 2018).

CIJA biete Aus- und Fortbildung und Mentoring für ihre Teammitglieder an. CIJA-Außendienstteams würden regelmäßig direkte Unterstützung von erfahrenen Kolleg·innen erhalten und von Fortbildungsprogrammen profitieren (CIJA, ohne Datum (c)). Zwischen April 2020 und März 2021 habe CIJA Schulungen und Mentoring für 43 syrische und irakische Ermittler·innen durchgeführt (CIJA, 2021, S. 6). Laut einem Artikel des New Yorkers seien schon im Jahr 2011 junge syrische Aktivist·innen und Jurist·innen rekrutiert worden, die auch weitere Personen ihres Vertrauens für das Sammeln von Beweisen gewinnen sollten (The New Yorker, 18. April 2016).

Wie wird CIJA finanziert?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 sei die gesamte Finanzierung von CIJA projektspezifisch. Der Untersuchungszyklus 2020-2021 in Syrien und im Irak sei von Großbritannien, den USA, Deutschland und Kanada finanziert worden. Seit seiner Gründung habe CIJA 65 Förderungen von elf Sponsoren erhalten (CIJA, 2021, S. 21), darunter Kanada, Dänemark, EU, Deutschland, Norwegen, Schweden, Schweiz, die NGO „International Research and Exchanges Board“ (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1185), Großbritannien und die Niederlande (CSCE, 18. September 2018).

Welchen Schwerpunkten widmet sich CIJA?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 sei es das Ziel von CIJA Möglichkeiten zu schaffen, um Gerechtigkeit für ein breites Spektrum von Verbrechen, wie Kriegsverbrechen, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, Völkermord, Terrorismus oder Menschenhandel zu erlangen (CIJA, 2021, S. 3). Chris Engels erklärt in einem Interview, dass ein wichtiger Teil der Arbeit von CIJA darin bestehe Beweise zusammenzutragen, um jene, die die Hauptverantwortung für Verbrechen tragen würden, zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen (CSCE, 18. September 2018). CIJA unterstütze strafrechtliche Verfahren, indem Mitarbeiter·innen Ermittlungen durchführen würden, um den Verlust und die Vernichtung von Beweisen zu verhindern. CIJAs Modell basiere auf vier Säulen: Entwicklung lokaler Ermittlungskapazitäten, Beweissicherung und ‑management, Analyse und Fallgestaltung, Unterstützung von Justizakteuren (CIJA, 2021, S. 3). Neben der Arbeit zu Syrien habe CIJA auch Beweismittel zum Islamischen Staat (IS) im Irak gesammelt und archiviert. Die Resultate ihrer Ermittlungen im Irak habe CIJA Ende März 2021 an UNITAD [UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL] übergeben (CIJA, 2021, S. 8/9). Die Aktivitäten von CIJA würden neben Operationen in Syrien und im Irak auch Aktivitäten auf dem Westbalkan, in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik, in Nigeria, Libyen (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1185) und Burma (CSCE, 18. September 2018) umfassen.

Was ist zur Arbeitsweise von CIJA bekannt?

Laut der Webseite von CIJA sammle die Organisation Beweise von Verbrechen. Der Schwerpunkt liege auf Beweisen, die bestimmte Täter·innen mit Verbrechen in Verbindung bringen. CIJA baue lokale Kapazitäten auf, um Beweise gemäß den Standards der Strafjustiz zu sammeln, und arbeite bei der Suche nach Beweisen eng mit lokalen Akteur·innen zusammen. CIJA bewahre Beweise auf und analysiere sie, um internationale und nationale Strafjustizinstitutionen zu unterstützen (CIJA, ohne Datum (d)). Die CIJA-Ermittler·innen würden Einrichtungen oder Gebiete durchsuchen, die während vergangener Kämpfe verlassen oder zerstört worden seien. Zunächst bewerte das Außendienstteam die Situation, um sicherzustellen, dass es ungefährlich sei, Beweise zu sammeln. Wenn der Bereich als ungefährlich gelte, sammle das Team alle verfügbaren Materialien vor Ort und transportiere das Material zur Verarbeitung an einen sicheren Ort (CIJA, ohne Datum (c)).

The New Yorker veröffentlich im April 2016 einen Artikel, in dem detailliert eine CIJA-Operation zur Bergung von Beweismitteln in Syrien beschrieben wird. Ein Ermittler sei dieselbe Strecke durch elf Checkpoints ungefähr hundert Mal in demselben ramponierten Lastwagen ohne Ladung gefahren. Er habe die Soldaten kennengelernt, die ihn für einen Einheimischen gehalten hätten. Auf seiner letzten Fahrt habe er den Lastwagen mit mehr als hunderttausend syrischen Regierungsdokumenten, die in Gruben vergraben und in Höhlen und verlassen Häusern versteckt gewesen seien, beladen. Drei Aufklärungsfahrzeuge seien vorausgefahren und hätten per Funk bestätigt, dass es keine neuen Checkpoints gebe. Er sei zu einem Grenzübergang gefahren, der normalerweise geschlossen sei. Die Soldaten des Nachbarlandes hätten ihn durchgewinkt. Es sei bis zu einer westlichen Botschaft gefahren und haben dort die Dokumente an Chris Engels übergeben. Der Gründer von CIJA, William Wiley, erklärt gegenüber The New Yorker, dass CIJA Rebellengruppen und Kuriere für logistische Unterstützung bezahle. Große Extraktionen hingen oft von befreundeten Ländern ab, die die Öffnung von ansonsten abgeriegelten Grenzübergängen aushandeln würden. Gesammelte Dokumente würden oft monatelang versteckt werden. In außergewöhnlich feindlichen Gebieten würden Kisten in Höhlen versteckt oder vergraben werden, in der Hoffnung, dass es zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt möglich sei die Dokumente zu bergen. Einmal hätten Ermittler·innen tausende Seiten Beweismaterial bei einer alten Frau in einem abgelegenen Bauernhaus zurückgelassen, ohne der Frau die Bedeutung der Akten zu erklären. Als der Winter kam, habe sie die Dokumente verbrannt, um sich warm zu halten. Laut Wiley seien seine Mitarbeiter·innen darin geschult, was sie zu tun hätten, falls sie gefangen genommen würden. Die Ausrüstung der Ermittler·innen sei verschlüsselt und so ausgeklügelt, dass eine Person, die sie durchgehe, keine Beweise für die Arbeit finden würde (The New Yorker, 18. April 2016).

The Guardian veröffentlich im Mai 2015 einen Artikel, in dem detailliert die Arbeitsweise von CIJA sowie eine weitere CIJA-Operation zur Bergung von Beweismitteln in Syrien beschrieben wird. Ein Hauptermittler von CIJA in Syrien sei Adel (nicht sein echter Name), ein Anwalt aus der Provinz Daraa. Er habe ein von Großbritannien finanziertes Menschenrechtsseminare in der Türkei besucht und sei 2012 CIJA beigetreten. Adel sei einer von mehreren syrischen Freiwilligen gewesen, die ein Training in Istanbul erhalten hätten und später praktische Unterweisungen in Beirut, Tripolis und entlang der libanesisch-syrischen Grenze. Adel arbeite mit einem Team aus 50 Ermittler·innen zusammen und fahre regelmäßig nach Syrien, um Dokumente aus dem Land zu schaffen. Für eine dieser Operationen habe Adil 2013 Kontakte zu Kommandanten von islamistischen Milizen in Raqqa und Deir ez-Zor aufgebaut, die als Teil ihrer Siege gegen die syrische Armee Regierungsgebäude unter ihre Kontrolle gebracht hätten. Adel und seine Ermittler·innen hätten die zurückgelassenen Dokumente in diesen ehemaligen Regierungsgebäuden der syrischen Regierung geborgen. Adel und ein Mitarbeiter hätten sich als Bauern verkleidet und die Dokumente versteckt unter Säcken von Düngemittel und Holzstücken durch IS-Checkpoints bis in die Türkei gebracht. Die gesammelten Dokumente würden gescannt, mit einem Strichcode versehen und archiviert. Die digitalen Versionen der Dokumente würden dann von einem/r erfahrenem/r Analyst·in geprüft werden, um zu entschieden, welche für eine detailliertere Prüfung ins Englische übersetzt werden sollten. Sobald die Ermittler·innen anhand der Dokumente sehen, welche Personen von Interesse und welche Fragen noch offen seien, würden Interviews durchgeführt, unter anderem mit Deserteuren. Zur gleichen Zeit habe ein Team syrischer Flüchtlinge in einer Stadt in Südosteuropa die Aufgabe sich die Videos anzusehen, die aus Syrien geschmuggelt worden seien. 2015 habe CIJA einen Bestand von mehr als 470.000 Videos auf ihrem Server gehabt, auf denen alles, von den Folgen der Fassbombenangriffe des Regimes auf Schulen, bis hin zu Massenenthauptungen durch den IS zu sehen sei. Jedes Video werde analysiert und Schlüsseldaten, wie Namen von Orten, Opfern oder Täter·innen, extrahiert. Die Mitarbeiter·innen hätten regelmäßige Beratungsgespräche, um das tägliche Trauma ihrer Arbeit zu bewältigen (The Guardian, 12. Mai 2015).

Nerma Jelacic, CIJA-Direktorin für Management und externe Beziehungen erklärt in einem Interview mit Asymmetrical Haircuts, veröffenlicht von Justice Info, einem Medienunternehmen der Fondation Hirondelle mit Sitz in Lausanne, Schweiz, das Informationen über internationale Justiz und Übergangsjustiz bereitstellt, dass die Person, die die Dokumente beschaffe, oft nicht dieselbe Person sei, die sie über die Grenze bringe. Die Dokumente könnten zwei- oder dreimal den Besitzer wechseln. Aus diesem Grund verfüge CIJA über ein System mit Siegeln und anderen Prozessen, um sicherzustellen, dass die Dokumente nicht manipuliert würden (Justice Info, 8. September 2020).

Laut ihrer Webseite verwende CIJA ein Beweismittelverwaltungssystem, um gesammelte Materialien zu scannen, zu archivieren, aufzubewahren und zu verwalten, um sie für künftige Ermittlungen und Strafverfolgungen zur Verfügung zu stellen. CIJA-Analyst·innen würden mit digitalen Kopien von Material arbeiten. Originalmaterialien würden an einem sicheren Ort archiviert werden (CIJA, ohne Datum (c)). Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 gebe es eine neu eingerichtete Field Scanning Unit, wo Dokumente verarbeitet, digitalisiert, archiviert und analysiert werden (CIJA, 2021, S. 6). Die Analyst·innen und Jurist·innen von CIJA würden das vor Ort gesammelte Material prüfen und Analyseberichte und Fallakten erstellen (CIJA, ohne Datum (c)).

CIJA habe ein proaktives Programm zur Verfolgung von Verdächtigen, das der Identifizierung und Verfolgung von Verdächtigen, die Syrien und den Irak verlassen hätten und sich in Europa aufhielten, diene. CIJA erstelle Dossiers zu den Personen und reiche diese dann bei den zuständigen Behörden ein (CIJA, 2021, S. 12).

Laut Chris Engels arbeite CIJA mit jeder legitimen Regierungsbehörde zusammen, die Verbrechen von Diktatoren, Terroristen und deren Mittäter·innen untersuche (CSCE, 18. September 2018). CIJA arbeite eng mit internationalen Gremien zusammen, darunter der UN-Untersuchungskommission (UN Commission of Inquiry, CoI), dem Internationalen, unparteiischen und unabhängigen Mechanismus für Syrien (International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, IIIM), der Organisation für das Verbot chemischer Waffen (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW) und UNITAD (CIJA, 2021, S. 13).

Erstellt CIJA Gutachten, die in Verwaltungs- und Strafverfahren zu Beweiszwecken verwertet werden? Wird CIJA von diesen auch beauftragt?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 teile CIJA Resultate ihrer Ermittlungen mit internationalen Organisationen sowie nationalen Behörden in mehr als einem Dutzend europäischer und nordamerikanischer Staaten. CIJA habe zwischen April 2020 und März 2021 nationale Unterstützungsersuchen in Bezug auf 600 Verdächtige des syrischen Regimes und des Islamischen Staates (IS) beantwortet und habe Beweismittel für eine Reihe laufender Ermittlungen, Verhaftungen und Strafverfolgungen in verschiedenen gerichtlichen Zuständigkeitsbereichen geliefert (CIJA, 2021, S. 4). Die Unterstützungsersuchen seien von 37 verschiedenen Strafverfolgungsbehörden gestellt worden. Zusätzlich habe CIJA Dossiers von 11 Verdächtigen, von denen angenommen werde, dass sie sich in europäischen gerichtlichen Zuständigkeitsbereichen aufhalten, erstellt und an drei Strafverfolgungsbehörden übermittelt. CIJA habe die Mehrheit der öffentlich bekannt gegebenen Ermittlungen und Gerichtsverfahren gegen das syrische Regime und den IS, die von nationalen Behörden geführt wurden, unterstützt, wie zum Beispiel das Verfahren gegen Eyad Al-Gharib in Koblenz, Deutschland (CIJA, 2021, S. 7).

Wie werden Gutachten der CIJA erstellt?

Laut CIJAs Webseite würden Analyst·innen und Jurist·innen das vor Ort gesammelte Material prüfen und Analyseberichte und Fallakten erstellen. Analyst·innen und Jurist·innen von CIJA würde eine rigorose Analyse aller belastenden und entlastenden Beweise in ihren Beständen zu mutmaßlichen Verbrechen, der Struktur verantwortlicher Gruppen und der Rolle einzelner Täter·innen durchführen (CIJA, ohne Datum (c)).

Woher stammen die Informationen der Berichte von CIJA?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 sei CIJA im Besitz von über 1.300.000 Originalseiten der Dokumentation des syrischen Regimes (CIJA, 2021, S. 4). Allein im Berichtszeitraum April 2020 und März 2021 habe CIJA 215.786 Original-Dokumentationsmaterialien und 528 Aufzeichnungen von Interviews gesammelt (CIJA, 2021, S. 6). Insgesamt habe CIJA über 3.000 Zeug·innen interviewt, darunter Deserteure, Personen mit direkter Kenntnis von Täter·innen und Opfern (CIJA, 3. Februar 2022).

Laut einem Artikel des New Yorker vom April 2016, habe CIJA Deserteure in den Golfstaaten, der Türkei und Europa interviewt, inklusive im schwer bewachten Flüchtlingslager Apaydın in der Südtürkei, wo ausschließlich ehemalige Regimeoffiziere und ihre Familien leben. Außerdem habe CIJA Opfer in Syrien interviewt (The New Yorker, 18. April 2016).

In Bezug auf CIJAs Arbeit zum IS, habe CIJA laut ihrer Webseite eine breite Palette an Material geborgen, unter anderem Pässe ausländischer Kämpfer·innen, Computerhardware, Rekrutierungsformulare und andere organisatorische Dokumente. Zusätzlich zu Originaldokumenten und digitalem Material habe CIJA über tausend Zeug·innen in Syrien, dem Irak und den Nachbarländern befragt, darunter Opfer, mutmaßliche IS-Mitglieder in Haft, ihre Familienangehörigen und andere Zeug·innen mit direktem Wissen über die Terrororganisation und ihre Verbrechen (CIJA, ohne Datum (a)).

Chris Engels erklärt in einem Interview, dass CIJA in der Lage sei alle Arten von Beweismitteln zu sammeln, aufzubewahren und zu analysieren, einschließlich Papierdokumente, Festplatten, Laptops und Smartphones sowie Materialien aus Open-Source-Quellen und sozialen Medien (CSCE, 18. September 2018).

Werden diese Informationen auch vor Ort erhoben?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 sei CIJA innerhalb des Berichtzeitraums aktiv in Syrien präsent gewesen. CIJA habe zwischen April 2020 und März 2021 mehr als 500 Aufzeichnungen von Interviews und mehr als 900 kg Beweise über das syrische Regime sowie 11.000 Seiten IS-Material innerhalb des Landes gesammelt (CIJA, 2021, S. 10). Laut New Yorker habe CIJA Opfer in mehreren Provinzen Syriens interviewt (The New Yorker, 18. April 2016).

Genauere Informationen finden Sie oben unter dem Abschnitt zur Arbeitsweise von CIJA.

Arbeitet CIJA mit Staaten zusammen?

Laut Jahresbericht von 2021 sei CIJA unpolitisch und führe seine Ermittlungsaktivitäten unabhängig von Regierungen durch. CIJA unterstütze jedoch Bemühungen von strafrechtlicher Verfolgung auf nationaler wie auch internationaler Ebene (CIJA, 2021, S. 3). CIJA unterstütze die Strafverfolgung in 13 Ländern und unterstütze 37 Strafverfolgungs- und Anti-Terror-Organisationen weltweit (CIJA, ohne Datum (d)).

CIJA habe langjährig mit deutschen Behörden zusammengearbeitet, unter anderem im Fall gegen Eyad Al-Gharib, der vom Oberlandesgericht in Koblenz verurteilt wurde. Im Fall gegen Anwar R. habe CIJA die deutschen Behörden seit der Ermittlungsphase im Jahr 2017 unterstützt. CIJA habe auch die Ermittlung unterstützt, die zur Festnahme von Alaa M., einen syrischen Arzt, in Deutschland geführt habe (CIJA, 2021, S. 11).

Nicht alle Ermittlungen würden zu Verhaftungen führen. 2016 habe CIJA den österreichischen Behörden das Dossier des Brigadegenerals Khaled Al-Halabi, den ehemaligen Leiter des General Intelligence Department in Raqqa und den ranghöchsten Beamten des syrischen Regimes, der in Europa auf freiem Fuß sei, übermittelt. Aufgrund institutioneller Hindernisse seien die österreichischen Behörden den belastbaren Beweisen nicht nachgegangen (CIJA, 2021, S. 13). Eine detailliere Beschreibung des Falles finden Sie in einem Artikel des New Yorkers vom September 2021 (The New Yorker, 13. September 2021).

Laut Chris Engels arbeite CIJA mit Regierungen zusammen, die mit aufständischen Gruppen in ihren eigenen Ländern fertig werden müssten (CSCE, 18. September 2018). CIJAs Webseite beschreibt, dass die Organisation Anfang 2015 ihre Untersuchungen auf den Irak ausgeweitet habe, wo sie mit Zustimmung der Regionalregierung Kurdistans tätig gewesen sei (CIJA, ohne Datum (a)).

Legt CIJA zu Verdächtigen Unterlagen vor?

Laut der Webseite von CIJA hätten Beweise, Analysen und Zeugenaussagen von CIJA bereits abgeschlossene sowie laufende Fälle unterstützt, wie zum Beispiel Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic (USA), Verurteilung von Oussama Ashraf Akhlafa (Niederlande), Verurteilung von Zoher J. (Deutschland), laufender Prozess gegen Anwar R. CIJA habe 24 strukturelle Untersuchungen und rechtliche Beratungen abgeschlossen, in denen Dutzende von hochrangigen Verdächtigen des syrischen Regimes und des Islamischen Staates identifiziert worden seien (CIJA, ohne Datum (d)).

Laut der Webseite von CIJA hätten CIJA-Mitarbeiter·innen während des Prozesses gegen Zoher J. vor dem Oberlandesgericht München mehrere Tage lang Zeugenaussagen angeboten. Zusätzlich habe CIJA-Geschäftsführer Bill Wiley vor Gericht über die Arbeitsmethoden von CIJA ausgesagt. Schließlich habe ein/e in Syrien ansässige/r CIJA-Ermittler·in Fragen zur individuellen strafrechtlichen Verantwortlichkeit von Zoher beantwortet (CIJA, ohne Datum (a)).

Quellen: (Zugriff auf alle Quellen am 14. Juni 2022)

·      Burgis-Kasthala, Michelle: Entrepreneurial Justice: Syria, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and the Renewal of International Criminal Justice. In: The European Journal of International Law, Vol. 30 no. 4, 2019
http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/30/4/3021.pdf

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: CIJA Issues Press Release on Slain Islamic State Leader, 3. Februar 2022
https://cijaonline.org/news/2022/2/3/cija-press-release-on-slain-islamic-state-leader

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Advancing Accountability and Criminal Justice Efforts, 2020 / 2021 Annual Report, 2021
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56706cbb841aba81145cadea/t/6112f3659f149c7edc9af642/1628631919912/CIJA+2020-2021+Annual+Report_FINAL.pdf

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Key successes, ohne Datum (a)
https://cijaonline.org/key-successes

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Who we are, ohne Datum (b)
https://cijaonline.org/who-we-are

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: What we do, ohne Datum (c)
https://cijaonline.org/model-of-work

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Commission for International Justice and Accountability, ohne Datum (d)
https://cijaonline.org/

·      CSCE – Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: Interview with Chris Engels, Director of Investigations and Operations, Commission for International Justice and Accountability, 18. September 2018
https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/interview-chris-engels-director-investigations-and-operations-commission?page=7

·      Justice Info: Why is CIJA needed?, 8. September 2020
https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/45313-why-is-cija-needed.html

·      The Guardian: Syria’s truth smugglers, 12. Mai 2015
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/12/syria-truth-smugglers-bashar-al-assad-war-crimes

·      The New Yorker: How a Syrian War Criminal and Double Agent Disappeared in Europe, 13. September 2021
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/how-a-syrian-war-criminal-and-double-agent-disappeared-in-europe

·      The New Yorker: The Assad Files, 18. April 2016
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/bashar-al-assads-war-crimes-exposed

 

Anhang: Quellenbeschreibungen und Informationen aus ausgewählten Quellen

Dr. Michelle Burgis-Kasthala ist Dozentin für Völkerrecht an der juristischen Fakultät der Universität von Edinburgh.

·      Burgis-Kasthala, Michelle: Entrepreneurial Justice: Syria, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and the Renewal of International Criminal Justice. In: The European Journal of International Law, Vol. 30 no. 4, 2019
http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/30/4/3021.pdf

„CIJA was created directly in response to the lack of public, international accountability action in the early days of the Syrian uprising. It is a private, non-profit organization registered in the Netherlands that employs around 140 staff across two undisclosed European cities, Syria, Iraq and beyond with an annual budget of seven million euros.“ (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1167)

„CIJA was established in May 2012 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) listed in the Netherlands, which worked out of a different European country through public funding. Since 2011, CIJA’s donors include Canada, Denmark, the European Union (EU), Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the International Research and Exchanges Board, an NGO. In 2015, CIJA also established a separate, US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which focuses solely on countering violent extremism (CVE) and is explored below.“ (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1178)

„As noted above, there are actually two CIJAs – one non-profit entity registered in the Netherlands, which is the main entity, along with ‘Groundscout’, a US incorporated non-profit entity. Groundscout has the same three directors as CIJA Europe as well as an additional US-based CVE expert. […]

This CIJA CVE work started first in the Balkans and now negotiations over work across Iraq are taking place. Western states are keen to consolidate Iraqi government victories against the Islamic State, and CIJA has positioned itself well in the field by leading new investigative and documentation efforts under the auspices of UNSC [United Nations Security Council] Resolution 2379.“ (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1181)

“Today, CIJA’s operations span the intersecting global governance concerns of capacity building (or development), justice and security not only in Syria and Iraq but also in the western Balkans, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Libya and another country in Asia.“ (Burgis-Kasthala, 2019, S. 1185)

Die Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) ist eine gemeinnützige Nichtregierungsorganisation, die sich der Durchführung strafrechtlicher Ermittlungen und der Analyse von Beweisen widmet, die während bewaffneter Konflikte gesammelt wurden.

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: CIJA Issues Press Release on Slain Islamic State Leader, 3. Februar 2022
https://cijaonline.org/news/2022/2/3/cija-press-release-on-slain-islamic-state-leader

„To date, CIJA has:

• Completed 24 structural investigations and legal briefs identifying dozens of high-ranking Syrian Regime and Islamic State suspects;
• Secured over 1,000,000 pages of documents generated by the parties within the Syrian regime and the Islamic State;
• Interviewed over 3,000 witnesses including defectors, individuals with direct knowledge of perpetrating parties and their structures as well as victims.

CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government. CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 13 countries and assists 37 law enforcement and counter-terrorism organisations globally.“ (CIJA, 3. Februar 2022)

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Advancing Accountability and Criminal Justice Efforts, 2020 / 2021 Annual Report, 2021
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56706cbb841aba81145cadea/t/6112f3659f149c7edc9af642/1628631919912/CIJA+2020-2021+Annual+Report_FINAL.pdf

„The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence. CIJA supports prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the national or international level.

CIJA’s aim is to expand opportunities to achieve justice for a broad range of crimes that impact vulnerable populations across the globe, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.

CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government. […]

Our model is built on four pillars:

Develop local investigative capacity, evidence preservation and management, analysis and case building, assistance to justice actors“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 3)

„CIJA now holds over 1,300,000 original pages of Syrian Regime documentation, along with immense quantities of Islamic State-generated materials. The fruits of CIJA’s collection efforts continue to be shared with international bodies as well as national authorities in more than a dozen European and North American states. During the year, CIJA responded to national requests for assistance regarding 600 Syrian Regime and Islamic State (IS) suspects, thus providing evidentiary support to a number of ongoing investigations, arrests and prosecutions in various jurisdictions.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 4)

„Switching to secure virtual platforms, CIJA continued to provide high-level training and mentoring to 43 Syrian and Iraqi investigators, ensuring that their skills were enhanced to meet investigative priorities and operational realities. Ten years on from the start of the Syrian uprising, CIJA’s investigators continued their efforts in support of criminal justice accountability. As a consequence, our field teams were able to extract 900kg of Syrian Regime documents from safe locations in Syria to a newly established Field Scanning Unit, where they have already started to be processed, digitalised, archived and analysed.

CIJA Achievements at a Glance: 2020-2021

National Capacity Development

43 Syrian and Iraqi investigators

Investigation

215,786 original documentary materials collected

528 records of interview collected

Evidence Preservation and Management

138,799 Syrian Regime documents processed

30,093 IS documents processed.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 6)

„CIJA continued to support the majority of publicly disclosed Syrian Regime and IS [Islamic State] investigations and trials led by national authorities, which stand to offer a measure of accountability for victims of a broad range of crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, and human trafficking. Of particular significance has been the first conviction of a former Syrian Regime member for crimes against humanity secured in Koblenz, Germany. The verdict in the case of Eyad Al-Gharib, which has been supported by CIJA documentary and witness evidence as well as expert testimony before the court, established that the crimes of the accused were committed as part of the Regime’s widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population.

Multi-disciplinary analysts responded to increasingly complex Requests for Assistance, providing information on 910 targets, including 600 suspects, to 37 law enforcement agencies, while dossiers of 11 suspects believed to be within European jurisdictions were prepared and submitted to three law enforcement agencies. In Northern Iraq, CIJA concluded its mandate, transferring a complete digital archive of IS evidence collected and analysis conducted over the six-year investigation to UNITAD [United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL].“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 7)

„On 31 March 2021, CIJA concluded its flagship investigation into IS [Islamic State] crimes in Iraq. Working with the support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), CIJA was the first criminal investigative body on the ground in Iraq following Islamic State’s brutal ascendance in 2014. As the conflict raged for a further three years, CIJA remained the sole international actor recovering battlefield evidence in support of national investigations of IS crimes.

The success of the programme stands as a testament to the CIJA model. As members of the Da’esh Crimes Investigative Unit (DCIU), over twenty brave Iraqi men and women have been trained and mentored by CIJA’s international experts, becoming high-calibre investigators of international crimes. Their professionalism and tireless dedication ensured the collection of one of the most robust evidence holdings regarding IS, most of it secured in the midst of ongoing conflict whilst maintaining criminal justice standards. Evidence was extracted, scanned, archived and preserved to ensure ready access and use for investigations and prosecutions, while CIJA conducted rigorous analysis of its holdings to produce a range of analytical reports and legal briefs addressing Islamic State’s authority structure and criminality. […]

Evidence collected and transferred to UNITAD [United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL] and the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government]

8TB [terabyte] of documentary and digital evidence materials

12000 +pages of documentary evidence

722 records of interview

7 legal briefs identifying IS command structure, organisation and criminality“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 8)

„In late 2019—as UNITAD [United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL] initiated its own evidence collection efforts— CIJA began planning for a controlled drawdown of its investigative presence in Iraq. This included the transfer of evidence and materials to UNITAD through a rigorous and ethical process, which concluded on 31 March 2021. […]

CIJA Support for IS [Islamic State] Accountability Measures (2016-2021)

Evidence, analysis, and briefings in support of investigations by national authorities in13 countries

220 requests for assistance

2 convictions of IS members: Zoher J, Germany; Akhlafa, the Netherlands“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 9)

„Securing battlefield evidence of Syrian Regime and Islamic State violations in Syria

As the conflict in Syria approached its tenth anniversary, Regime forces continued to make inroads into rebel-held areas, while the Covid 19 pandemic exacerbated already strained living conditions. Despite these challenges, CIJA was able to maintain an active in-country presence, collecting crucial evidence, collecting more than 500 records of interview and extracting more than 900 kg of Syrian regime evidence and 11,000 pages of IS materials in support of a growing number of investigations. This was possible due to the resilience and adaptability of CIJA’s investigators who, supported with expert guidance, have proven themselves highly adept at navigating the rapidly shifting landscape of Syria’s conflict.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 10)

„First trials of Syrian Regime members draw on CIJA’s long-standing assistance to German authorities

CIJA’s long-standing investigative, evidentiary and analytical assistance to German authorities yielded extraordinary results in the long quest for justice and accountability for crimes committed by the Syrian Regime. In February 2021, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany convicted former Syrian Regime member Eyad Al-Gharib of aiding and abetting 30 counts of crimes against humanity committed in the early months of the 2011 uprising, sentencing him to four years and six months in prison. The judgement is the first by a criminal court to establish that the Regime’s violent response to popular protests in the country constituted a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population. CIJA supported the case through the provision of critical documentary evidence, witness interviews, and an extensive two day expert testimony by CIJA’s Director for Operations and Investigations. In parallel, CIJA continues to support the case against Anwar R, the second, higher-ranking former Syrian Regime member prosecuted for crimes against humanity before the court in Koblenz. CIJA has been assisting German authorities in the case since its investigative phase in 2017, continuing to do so through the suspects’ arrest in 2019 and in their subsequent trial.

CIJA also assisted the investigation which led in June 2020 to the arrest of Alaa M, a Syrian doctor accused by German authorities of particularly brutal conduct against detainees under his care in a Military Intelligence branch in Homs and military hospitals in Homs and Damascus. CIJA’s evidentiary support in the pre-trial phase of the case, provided in response to nine separate requests for assistance, has helped lead to the expansion of the crimes against humanity charges against the accused to include one count of murder, the torture of a further 18 people, seven counts of seriously depriving people of their freedom, and one instance of attempting to deprive a victim of their reproductive capacity.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 11)

„In parallel, CIJA scaled up its proactive Suspect Tracking programme, which was initiated in 2016. The programme works to identify and track suspects who have left Syria and Iraq and are currently residing within Europe, before preparing and submitting dossiers on the individuals to relevant authorities.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 12)

„And despite overwhelming evidence, not all such investigations lead to an arrest. At the programme’s outset in 2016, CIJA shared with Austrian authorities a suspect dossier on Brigadier General Khaled AlHalabi, former head of the General Intelligence Department in Raqqa and the highest-ranking Syrian regime official to remain at large in Europe today. As a series of leaks from Austrian authorities to national media agencies uncovered last year, institutional obstacles have continued to prevent his arrest more than five years later despite robust evidence gathered against him.

CIJA also continued to cooperate closely with international bodies, including the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI), the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and UNITAD [United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL] in support of their investigative mandates in Syria and Iraq.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 13)

„Governance and Finance

CIJA’s governance structure is composed of a three-member Board of Directors and six-member Board of Commissioners. The directors manage day-to-day operations, regularly consulting with the Board of Commissioners on issues of strategic direction related to investigative objectives, operational planning, strategic partnerships, and organisational governance. They are further supported by an Advisory Panel composed of legal experts with extensive prosecutorial, analytical, and defence experience who are responsible for ensuring the quality of CIJA’s analytical products.

All of CIJA’s funding is project specific. The 2020-2021 investigative cycle in Syria and Iraq was funded by the UK, US, Germany, and Canada. Since its establishment CIJA has received sixty-five grants from eleven donors. Every year, CIJA’s finances are thoroughly reviewed by external auditors including those appointed by donors. In sharp contrast to the disinformation about CIJA’s financial operations, CIJA underwent and passed five audits conducted by external accountancy firms over the course of 2020-2021, and sixty-four audits since its inception.“ (CIJA, 2021, S. 21)

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Key successes, ohne Datum (a)
https://cijaonline.org/key-successes

„Syrian Regime […]

Since 2012, CIJA’s investigators have benefited from extensive capacity-building efforts through an ongoing training programme and continuous mentoring by international experts. These men and women have been working within Syria since the early stages of the conflict gathering evidence which, with the help of experienced analysts and lawyers, is analysed and presented in case briefs and reports that CIJA makes available to law enforcement. As a result of their continued learning and experience, CIJA investigators are capable of leading investigations on the ground, further empowering them to play a key role in current and future justice initiatives in the region. […]

Da’esh / Islamic State

CIJA has been investigating Da’esh (Islamic State) in Syria since early 2014 when it established a dedicated Da’esh Crimes Team of investigators. By the beginning of 2015, CIJA expanded this investigation to the territory of Iraq where it operates with the approval of the Kurdistan Regional Government. CIJA’s Da’esh Crimes Investigative Unit (DCIU) is composed of Iraqi men and women who have been trained, mentored, and supported by international investigative and legal professionals.

CIJA investigators have salvaged a wide range of Da’esh-related material including foreign fighter passports, computer hardware, recruitment forms, and other organisational documents. In addition to original documentation and digital material, CIJA has interviewed over 1000 witnesses within Syria, Iraq and neighbouring countries, including victims, suspected Da’esh members in detention, their family members, and other witnesses with direct knowledge of the terrorist organisation and its crimes. Based on this evidence, CIJA has completed 10 case files that identify ranking Daesh members responsible for atrocities committed in Iraq and Syria, which include crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. […]

In March 2019, the Higher Regional Court of Munich convicted Zoher J., a former leader of an extremist armed group in Aleppo, for the provision of material support to a terrorist organisation, sentencing him to seven years imprisonment and three additional years of parole. The Court found that Zuhair had held a leadership role in the Aleppo-based battalion (katiba) ‘Mohamed Ibn Abdullah’ from November 2012, also noting that the battalion was later affiliated with Jabhat al Nusra and the Islamic State. During the trial, CIJA personnel offered several days of testimony. CIJA Executive Director Bill Wiley, testified to CIJA’s objectives, structures and working methods. More importantly, the key witness in the case, a CIJA field investigator based in Syria, addressed questions regarding the individual criminal responsibility of Zuhair.“ (CIJA, ohne Datum (a))

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Who we are, ohne Datum (b)
https://cijaonline.org/who-we-are

„CIJA is led by a diverse group of professionals dedicated to the furtherance of justice with extensive experience garnered as investigators, analysts and lawyers in their home countries and in the international justice system. Further CIJA expertise comes from linguistic, country and regional specialists, as well as operations, security, and evidence management support personnel with many years of experience in the field.“ (CIJA, ohne Datum (b))

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: What we do, ohne Datum (c)
https://cijaonline.org/model-of-work

„EVIDENCE PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

CIJA utilises an evidence management system to scan, archive, preserve and manage materials that it collects to make available for use in future investigations and prosecutions.

CIJA investigators focus their collection efforts where hostilities have subsided to search facilities or areas that have been abandoned or destroyed and may contain evidence of crimes committed. In such instances, the field team first assesses the situation to ensure it is safe to collect the evidence. If the area is deemed safe, the team will collect all available material from the site and transport the material to a safe location for processing. Material is then scanned and registered in CIJA’s evidence management system, and the original material is placed in CIJA’s evidence archive. CIJA analysts work with digital copies of material. Original materials are archived in a safe location. […]

ANALYSIS AND CASE BUILDING

CIJA analysts and lawyers review material collected from the field and produce analytical reports and case files in support of criminal justice efforts.

CIJA analysts and lawyers carry out rigorous analysis of all inculpatory and exculpatory evidence in its holdings concerning alleged crimes, the structure of responsible groups, and the role of individual perpetrators. CIJA teams produce analytical reports and briefs in order to assist CIJA’s criminal justice partners as they work to understand the often-complex structures as well as individuals associated with the criminality being investigated.

CAPACITY BUILDING

CIJA provides capacity building to its team members and works with local partners to build their capacity to carry out these functions themselves over the longer term.

CIJA provides capacity building through training and mentoring to its team members and partner organisations. These activities cover a wide range of topics including evidence collection and management, witness interviewing skills, sexual and gender-based violence investigations, online investigations, all source analysis and complex case building. CIJA field teams receive direct support from senior team members on a regular basis and benefit from an ongoing capacity development program that builds on past skills.“ (CIJA, ohne Datum (c))

·      CIJA – Commission for International Justice and Accountability: Commission for International Justice and Accountability, ohne Datum (d)
https://cijaonline.org/

„The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations, in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence for the purpose of supporting prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the domestic or international level.

CIJA’s aim is to expand opportunities to achieve justice for a broad range of crimes that impact vulnerable populations across the globe, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.

TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL:

·         CIJA gathers evidence of crimes that are beyond the reach of international and domestic justice institutions. CIJA places an emphasis on evidence linking specific perpetrators to these crimes.

·         CIJA builds local capacity to collect evidence in accordance with criminal justice standards and works closely with local actors in pursuit of evidence.

·         CIJA preserves and analyses evidence in order to provide evidentiary and analytical support to international and domestic criminal justice institutions pursing accountability through investigations, prosecutions, and trials.

CIJA’s work has expanded from its initial efforts to collect and preserve evidence of potential crimes committed in Syria to include both short-term capacity building and longer-term investigations in cooperation with local authorities and/or affected communities in multiple countries.

CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government.

CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 13 countries and assists 37 law enforcement and counter-terrorism organisations globally.

CIJA’S EVIDENCE, ANALYSIS AND TESTIMONY HAVE ALREADY SUPPORTED COMPLETED AND ONGOING CASES INCLUDING:

·         Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic constituting the first case against the state of Syria for targeted killing of American journalist Marie Colvin;

·         Conviction of Oussama Ashraf Akhlafa in the Netherlands, constituting the first conviction within Europe of a former Da’esh fighter for war crimes;

·         Conviction in Germany of Zoher J., a former leader of an extremist armed group in Aleppo;

·         The ongoing trial of Anwar R., the highest ranking Syrian regime official to face charges of murder and torture.

CIJA HAS:

·         Completed 24 structural investigations and legal briefs identifying dozens of high-ranking Syrian Regime and Islamic State suspects;

·         Secured over 1,000,000 pages of documents generated by the parties within the Syrian regime and the Islamic State;

·         Interviewed over 3,000 witnesses including defectors, individuals with direct knowledge of perpetrating parties and their structures as well as victims.“ (CIJA, ohne Datum (d))

Die Kommission für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, CSCE), auch bekannt als Helsinki-Kommission, ist eine unabhängige US-Regierungsbehörde, die 1976 gegründet wurde, um die Einhaltung der Schlussakte von Helsinki und anderer OSZE-Verpflichtungen zu überwachen und zu fördern.

·      CSCE – Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: Interview with Chris Engels, Director of Investigations and Operations, Commission for International Justice and Accountability, 18. September 2018
https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/interview-chris-engels-director-investigations-and-operations-commission?page=7

„CIJA’s core work is to collect evidence of international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and terrorism committed during conflicts. Our current investigations include Iraq, Syria, Burma, and the Central African Republic. We have seen in our careers that evidence against dictators, military leaders, terrorist groups and others who committed terrible crimes, often against their own citizens, is destroyed, stolen, or hidden away by those responsible for these crimes. Because it is close to impossible for government law enforcement or international organizations to work in these places, given the security issues related to operating in an active conflict zone, we have taken on this task. We are able to collect, preserve and analyze all types of evidence, including paper documents, hard drives, laptops, and smart phones as well as open source and social media materials. We also speak to witnesses, whether they be victims, bystanders or those who had some role in the organizations that we are looking into. An important part of this work is to bring together evidence that demonstrates the responsibility of leaders who hide behind layers of command, who don’t get their hands dirty but are most responsible for the terrible crimes they plan and order others to commit.

We also work with governments that are trying to deal with insurgent groups in their own countries. It’s completely reasonable that governments have little experience dealing with collection and analysis of evidence of these types of crimes, until they are attacked by an armed group. […]

Our team is made up of investigators, analysts, lawyers, and security professionals from a number of countries, with experience in all of the recent conflicts around the globe. We are also a local organization in a way, because we have team members from the countries we work in who are incredibly committed to bringing to justice those who are tearing their countries apart. […]

Who funds CIJA?

We have had a number of donors over the years. Our current donors include the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Demark, the Netherlands, and Norway. […]

But CIJA focuses simply and solely on collecting evidence to ensure dictators, terrorists, and their cronies who kill, torture, and rape civilians do not escape justice. Once we have done our job, the information needs to get to law enforcement so that justice can be done.

To do that, we work with any legitimate governmental agency that is investigating these types of crimes including the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and DHS [United States Department of Homeland Security]. We are happy to work with them and believe it is our responsibility to do so. We received over 500 requests last year to assist in law enforcement investigations and the number is increasing this year.“ (CSCE, 18. September 2018)

The Guardian ist eine britische Tageszeitung.

·      The Guardian: Syria’s truth smugglers, 12. Mai 2015
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/12/syria-truth-smugglers-bashar-al-assad-war-crimes

„One day in February 2014, a dusty and dented pick-up truck approached an Isis [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] checkpoint outside the Syrian border town of Tell Abyad, carrying two men dressed in the simple djellaba robes and loose keffiyehs worn by local farmers. The fighter on duty checked their identity cards and cast an eye over the fertiliser bags and scraps of wood piled in the back of the vehicle. The driver and his passenger said they were in the area to visit relatives, and the fighter waved them through.

The two men drove across the Turkish border, having cleared the last – and potentially most lethal – obstacle on a long clandestine journey. Hidden under the sacks of fertiliser in the back of the truck was a batch of documents salvaged from the battlefields of Syria’s bloody conflict, and smuggled across the country at enormous risk. Amid the thousands of pages of military orders and government reports that had just come across the border was vital evidence of war crimes, which could one day form the core of an international prosecution of Bashar al-Assad and his regime.

The driver of the pick-up, a stocky man in his 40s named Adel, was the chief investigator for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA). An independent organisation set up by experts on humanitarian law, with funding from western governments, its aim is to collect evidence of atrocities committed by the Syrian regime and opposition, in preparation for the day when they can be judged by a tribunal. Adel and his team of 50 investigators had made many such trips in the three years since the CIJA was established, but these smuggling runs through Tell Abyad in the first months of 2014 would prove to be the most fruitful. They were carrying the greatest find of the investigation so far: a complete set of documents from the provinces of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which provided a clear picture of the regime’s machinery of repression, and showed how tightly it is controlled by Assad and his inner circle.

Adel had visited Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in December 2013, with introductions from mutual acquaintances to a handful of the commanders of Islamist militias in the region. These militias had scored a string of victories over the Syrian army earlier that year, seizing government buildings in the process. Adel was interested in what was inside these buildings – the paperwork left behind in filing cabinets and underground archives. In Raqqa, leaders of the local Salafist militia offered to help collect what Adel was looking for; over the next few days, they came to him with plastic bags and cardboard boxes full of papers from the abandoned secret police headquarters in the town of Taqba and from Raqqa city itself.

In Deir ez-Zor, the situation was more complicated. The dominant military force there was the Nusra Front, an al-Qaida offshoot opposed to any venture associated with the west. But one of the group’s local commanders – a man of ‘grace and education’, according to Adel – agreed to covertly provide assistance. His fighters allowed Adel’s investigators to comb through the military intelligence building and sweep up the files and loose papers scattered around its deserted shell. […]

Adel trained as a lawyer in Daraa province, in south-western Syria, under a judicial system built on the foundations of French law – almost all of which was negated by an emergency law imposed in 1963, when a military coup brought the Ba’athist party to power. […]

He attended UK-funded human rights seminars in Turkey and joined the CIJA in 2012, soon after it was set up by veterans of the international criminal court (ICC) and war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Initial funding came from Britain, the United States and the European Union. […]

Wiley and Tsamota carried out three training sessions for Syrian volunteers in Istanbul at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Adel was one of the early trainees. Starting in October 2012 they held follow-up practical sessions in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli, and along the Lebanese-Syria border. The trainees observed CIJA personnel interviewing defectors. The nature of the training, and the risk to the trainees, required a certain amount of discretion. CIJA block-booked rooms at small hotels in Istanbul that did not require guests to show their passports. In Lebanon, the CIJA’s local fixer ensured they did not stay in any establishment which might leak details to the Syrian regime’s allies in Hezbollah. […]

In fact, the CIJA headquarters, in a nondescript suite of offices in a western capital that cannot be named for security reasons, does not have a plaque at all. The pale stone lobby is featureless and anonymous.

After uncertain beginnings, the organisation is now on a solid financial footing. Following an initial £1m to fund the training sessions for investigators, the UK contributed another £800,000, the EU provided €2m and the US gave $1m. Additional funding came from Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Canada and Denmark.

As a consequence, Wiley has been able to afford to recruit analysts to process Adel’s haul of documents. In the CIJA offices, the batches of smuggled papers are unpacked, and each page is scanned, labelled with a bar code, and filed. There are now half a million pages of original documentation in the archives, about 2.3 tonnes of paper, stacked on shelves in numbered boxes. About 80% of it has so far been scanned, and the digital versions of the documents are reviewed by a senior analyst to determine which should be translated into English for broader scrutiny.

Meanwhile, in a city in south-eastern Europe, a team of Syrian refugees has the soul-crippling job of watching the many videos that have been smuggled out from the conflict. More than 470,000 videos have been downloaded on the CIJA server, thousands of hours of gruesome viewing, from the aftermath of regime barrel bomb attacks on schools to Isis’s elaborately staged mass beheadings. Each video is analysed and key data – names of places, victims or perpetrators – extracted. The staff have regular counselling sessions to handle the daily trauma of their jobs.

The video evidence will be most relevant to a parallel investigation of opposition war crimes, while the regime investigation is driven principally by the document archive. Witness interviews only began last May, once the documents had taught the investigators whom to look for and what questions to ask. So far 380 interviews have been conducted, including 49 with defectors up to the level of lieutenant colonel.“ (The Guardian, 12. Mai 2015)

The New Yorker ist ein von Harold Ross gegründetes US-amerikanisches Magazin.

·      The New Yorker: The Assad Files, 18. April 2016
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/bashar-al-assads-war-crimes-exposed

„The investigator in Syria had made the drive perhaps a hundred times, always in the same battered truck, never with any cargo. It was forty miles to the border, through eleven rebel checkpoints, where the soldiers had come to think of him as a local, a lawyer whose wartime misfortunes included a commute on their section of the road. Sometimes he brought them snacks or water, and he made sure to thank them for protecting civilians like himself. Now, on a summer afternoon, he loaded the truck with more than a hundred thousand captured Syrian government documents, which had been buried in pits and hidden in caves and abandoned homes.

He set out at sunset. To the fighters manning the checkpoints, it was as if he were invisible. Three reconnaissance vehicles had driven ahead, and one confirmed by radio what the investigator hoped to hear: no new checkpoints. Typically, the border was sealed, but soldiers from the neighboring country waved him through. He drove until he reached a Western embassy, where he dropped off the cargo for secure transfer to Chris Engels, an American lawyer. […]

In November, 2011, Wiley travelled to Istanbul with two Tsamota colleagues to train Syrians to collect evidence that would be useful in war-crimes prosecutions. A security consultant whom he knew had selected some young Syrian activists and lawyers, who were invited to recruit trusted friends. […]

‘Our people are extremely well trained on what to do if they’re captured,’ Wiley told me. ‘The equipment they have is encrypted and sufficiently sophisticated that anyone going through it would not find any evidence of the work they’re doing.’ […]

We’ve extracted from Syria approximately six hundred thousand pages’—several tons. ‘So you need vehicles. Those vehicles need to get through checkpoints. You need to do reconnaissance. You need to know what kind of checkpoints you’re going to run into.’ The commission pays rebel groups and couriers for logistical support. ‘We burn enormous sums of money moving this stuff,’ he said.

Large extractions often depend on friendly countries to negotiate openings in otherwise sealed borders, so captured documents can remain hidden for months. On one occasion, several thousand pages of evidence were left with an old woman in a remote farmhouse in southern Syria, but the investigator didn’t explain the significance of the files. When winter came, Wiley said, ‘in fairness, she was cold, so she burned the whole lot of it as fuel.’ The commission’s chief investigator told me that in exceptionally hostile areas he and his colleagues hide boxes in caves or bury them in the ground, log the location, and hope to retrieve them months or years from now—whenever the killing stops. Wiley said, ‘We have enormous quantities of material still in Syria that we’re not moving,’ because it’s too dangerous. ‚Probably up to half a million pages.‘ […]

As the Syrians collected documents, Wiley hired military and political analysts, investigators, translators, and lawyers in Europe. By 2015, the cija’s budget had grown to eight million dollars a year, and its staff to around a hundred and fifty, including employees at the headquarters and at a video-analysis office elsewhere in Europe, in addition to the investigators in the Middle East. […]

The task of tracking down former regime agents who were willing to explain their roles in the system was simplified by the fact that so many had defected from the government. Analysts for the cija found wealthy defectors in the Gulf states, Turkey, and Europe. They also took witness statements in southern Turkey, in a heavily guarded refugee camp called Apaydın, which is wholly populated by former regime officers and their families. (None of them are listed as suspects in the case, which focusses on higher-level officials.) […]

The cija preferred to interview victims who remained in Syria and had never spoken to reporters, human-rights groups, or the U.N. commission of inquiry. (A defense lawyer could suggest that, inside crowded refugee camps, testimonies might unfairly converge on a damning narrative.) So the cija’s Syrian investigators interviewed roughly two hundred and fifty victims across several provinces, to secure ‘pattern evidence’ showing that crimes had been perpetrated in a systematic manner, in accordance with evidence in the documents. The goal was to draw strong links, through regime documents and testimony by witnesses and victims, between Syrian government policies and their effects on individuals.“ (The New Yorker, 18. April 2016)