Starting now - @A_L_Kather welcoming and introducing @ECCHRBerlin's work on Syria and collaboration with Syrian survivors. Seven complaints have been filed in European countries to investigate international crimes, including #CRSV. #Justice4Syria (1/x)
"Still waiting for the gender-specific harm of crimes in Syria to be recognized". Representing seven survivors, @ECCHRBerlin, @urnammu and others filed criminal complaint on rape, sexual coercion in Air Force Intelligence detention facilities in Hama and Damascus. (2/x)
Demand the #arrestwarrant against #JamilHassan to be amended and include sexual violence as crimes against humanity. (3/x)
@semanassar: "9-year long journey of observing and documenting the stories of detainees in Syria." Focusing on the experience of women in detention facilities + the effects afterwards. Syrian government uses this #stigma to prevent women from participating in society. (4/x)
@semanassar: We are not taking sides, but focus on #justice. Women suffer the impact of the violations in detention even after their release, as they carry the honour of their families. Violence after 2011 increased, #sexualviolence was used to spread fear in society. (5/x)
#Sexualviolence against women in detention, at checkpoints, in military facilities in Syria cannot be summarized in a few minutes - it is the story of nine years. (6/x)
@SeifJoumana: "Demands to the German justice system: To investigate and prosecute #CRSV in Syrian detention facilities." (7/x)
Survivors in Germany believe that justice can be done through the judicial system - this complaint is a concrete result of this. However, the crimes that are being investigated are torture, killings, inhuman acts, but other widely committed acts are not included: #CRSV. (8/x)
Threatening male detainees with raping their daughters and sisters. Syrian regime uses #sexualviolence to suppress any kind of opposition. Impact of these crimes go much deeper - they may not be palpable on surface.(9/x)
@SeifJoumana: "Recognition of rape and other sexual crimes will be the basis for justice in a future Syria." (10/x)
Rouba Choufi (@swnsyria2018): We are aware of the fact that sexual and gender-based violence in Syria is associated with #ISIS. But it is important to remember that the Syrian regime has committed similar crimes in detention facilities... (11/x)
... through rape in detention facilities in oder to get false confessions. (12/x)
@SaretaAshraph: Historical failure to investigate and prosecute sexual and gender-based violence. Often #femalelawyers at #ICTY and #ICTR have pushed to advance these cases. We now see a replication of this in the Syrian context. (13/x)
In the arrest warrant against #JamilHassan, sexual violence is included as a method of torture. #AlKhatib trial in Koblenz also includes sexual violence as a domestic count. (14/x)
Crimes need to be called by their true names: By framing #CRSV correctly as a crime against humanity, it enters into our understanding of the conflict not as isolated incidents, but a tool employed by the conflict parties. (15/x)
All seven survivors are based in Europe - further information can be found on @ECCHRBerlin website: ecchr.eu/en/case/surviv… (16/x)
@Schwarz__Alex : what sexual crimes are charged in the complaint? @A_L_Kather: Rape, sexual coercion, deprivation of persons' reproductive capacity. Corroborating evidence for the survivors' testimonies was provided by @ldhr_org. (17/x)
@SeifJoumana: With the complaint, we are requesting #arrestwarrants against the other #AirForceIntelligence suspects identified. (18/x)
@Dalatrm: have any other the nine suspects been identified in the complaint and are in Germany? @A_L_Kather: besides #JamilHassan, the other 8 suspects are Heads of Branches of the #AirForceIntelligence - some of them travel internationally. (19/x)
check out @ECCHRBerlin website for more details of this complaint and other Syria projects, including #AlKhatib trial. #Justice4Syria
