Investigation of crimes in Syria at a distance?

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Investigation of crimes in Syria at a distance?

December 23

13:24 2016

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by Edward Bokhua 0 Comments

How Can Crimes in Syria Be Investigated by Those Who Were Not There?

The United Nations plans to establish a mechanism to investigate “grave crimes” committed in Syria, but political analyst Karine Gevorgyan says that the new commission “will hardly be unbiased” and could well be used “to settle scores.”
“The United Nations has often created numerous commissions for bureaucrats. A large team of experts will have to work for the commission. They will visit one country after another, receive some documents. No one knows how these documents will be assessed and whose evidence they will listen to,” she said.

The political analyst also warned that such a commission could be predisposed to reach a certain outcome rather than conduct an impartial investigation and sea where it leads the team.

“This commission can hardly be unbiased. I think this is a bureaucratic solution,” she said, adding that this initiative “profanes serious work” and is meant to “settle scores” with those the commission does not see eye to eye on the issue.

The resolution establishing the new mechanism was approved on Wednesday, with 105 countries voting yes. Fifteen nations, including Russia and China, did not support the measure, which Syria’s envoy to the UN Bashar Jaafari described as a “flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a UN member state.”

“How is it possible that crimes committed in one country will be investigated by those who were not present in that country when such events took place?” Gevorgyan asked.

The political analyst pointed to the attack on a UN humanitarian aid convoy near the Syrian city of Aleppo on September 19 as a prime case in point. On Thursday, the UN said that its findings were inconclusive and it could not identify those responsible for the incident. However, the investigators insisted that the convoy was destroyed in an “air attack.”
“They still are unable to explain what happened. For some unknown reason they had said from the beginning that it was an air attack. However, all footage take at the site of the attack has created an impression that the trucks were shelled and not in an air raid since there were no craters. There are many questions,” she said.
US officials blamed Russia and Syria for the September 19 attack near Aleppo. The Russian Defense Ministry denied these allegations, saying that neither Russian, nor Syria aircraft carried out strikes.
“Clearly, Syrian and Russian forces had nothing to do with it. Both countries have been supplying humanitarian aid to Aleppo. The obvious ignored UN Board of Inquiry question is why would they want it destroyed? Also unaddressed was who benefited from the attack – clearly not Syria or Russia,” Chicago-based analyst Stephen Lendman asserted.