Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Center for Human Rights: June 2012 Casualty Report

The following crimes reported were all carried out by the Syrian regime forces during the killing campaign they launched on unarmed civilians.  June is considered to be the bloodiest month, with at least 2,336 confirmed dead.  This includes 203 children and 225 women.  It averages out to roughly80 people per day.  The statistics from June show that Syrian citizens have been subjected to the gravest violence at the hands of the army and security forces. The Syrian regime perpetrated a large number of massacres, in various Syrian governorates, and harvested the lives of dozens.

The enclosed link includes the documentation of most of the victims’ names, location, photos and videos.  The diagram also illustrates their distribution throughout the duration of the Syrian revolution.  Another diagram shows their distribution in Syrian governorates.  We have been able to document 2,336 victims in June 2012 including:

203 children
225 women
64 killed under torture
151 military personnel

The link below includes the full report of all the names of civilian and military victims as well as most available details for each case. The first few pages include diagrams showing the distribution of victims across Syrian governorates.
http://www.syrianhr.org/Attach/June.pdf

The distribution of victims on governorates was as follows:

Damascus Suburbs: 512
Homs: 447
Idleb: 285
Daraa: 276
Hama: 234
Deir Ezzour: 220
Aleppo: 159
Lattakia: 105
Damascus: 62
Hasakeh: 13
Rakka:12
Tartous: 1
Suweida: 1
Non-Syrian victims: 3

This is the data we were able to collect through the work of more than 200 of our members stationed in different Syrian governorates.  They were able to document and verify the full name, place and time of death for each case.  It must be noted that there have been many cases where it was hard to get access to such details, particularly where massacres took place.  This is because it is standard practice during these massacres for regime forces to besiege the town and black-out all communications.  Thus, the real number of victims is likely to be much higher than recorded.  Additionally, the Syrian government denies all human rights organizations access to its territories.

SNHR and DCHRS hold Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president and commander in chief of the Syrian army, responsible for all acts of homicide, torture, and massacres committed in Syria.  He holds the command responsibility for all of these acts.  All Syrian regime members and heads of the security and military forces, who are directly complicit in these acts, are held responsible.  Further, all the financiers and supporters of this regime, which is committing massacres on a semi-daily basis and killing dozens around the clock, are also responsible.  All these people must face severe consequences and implications stemming from these acts which they are responsible for.

SNHR and DCHR call on the Security Council of the UN and all member states to honor their moral and legal obligations by acting with the utmost urgency to undertake all necessary measures for the protection of Syrian civilians and to accelerate the process of referring all those implicated in the massacres to the International Criminal Court.

All information and data in this report provided by:
Syrian Network for Human Rights in London
Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria

Syrian Network for Human Rights: The Zamalka Massacre

On Saturday 30 June 2012 in the morning, the Syrian regime’s security forces raided the city of Zamalka in al-Ghouta al-Sharqia to the east of the Syrian capital Damascus.  They opened gunfire around 11:00 a.m., killing Abdul Hadi al-Halabi and injuring many others.

Zamalka residents then held the traditional funeral procession for the victims by marching to the Great Mosque.  Security forces then wired a bomb to a car and put it along the path that the mourners would march along.  When mourners passed by it, security forces carried out the explosion, killing at least 72 citizens and wounding 400 others in just a single minute.

 

A video filmed by a local that shows the car bomb blast just as the funeral procession goes by.

SNHR and DCHRS verified this information by contacting ten different local eyewitnesses.  All ten of the eyewitnesses are still alive and can be contacted by any authority or organization.  These eyewitnesses confirmed that security forces were deployed near al-Tawba Mosque where the car bomb was planted.  In addition, Zamalka Revolution Committee published news, prior to the blast, noting that many suspicious cars had entered the city and that the security forces  stationed at checkpoints had removed their uniforms and dressed in civilian clothing.

About 4,000 citizens walked in the funeral procession for the victim Abdul Hadi al-Halabi.  They marched from the victim’s home towards the Great Mosque and as they passed the al-Tawaba Mosque at 6:40 p.m. the car bomb exploded.

Security forces immediately besieged the city.   They denied medical aid for the wounded and killed a doctor, Jamal Tabranin, with sniper fire while he gave aid to the wounded. There is hard evidence that proves the Syrian regime did not give aid to the wounded rather they chased them down and killed them.  Some of the wounded were transported to the city of Kafr Batna’s hospital al-Fatih Hospital.  Security forces followed the transports, besieged the hospital and attacked both the wounded receiving medical attention and the doctors providing it.

**WARNING: THE VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

A video showing the wounded and dead inside a makeshift hospital immediately following the blast.  The wounded are given treatment using only basic medical tools and without the basic necessities like sanitized areas to perform medical operations.  Residents of Zamalka refuse to transport them to public or private hospitals because regime forces have threatened to arrest and kill them.

By a field visit to the site of the crime and by contacting relatives of the victims, SNHR & DCHRS have verified and documented the names of 72 victims killed in the blast.  SNHR & DCHRS notes that there are lost citizens whose whereabouts have not been confirmed.  This fact makes it likely that the number of victims of the massacre will increase.

The mass burial of about 80 victims of the car bomb.

 

All information and videos provided by:

Syrian Network for Human Rights

“The Magnitsky Files” to be Screened at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Monaco Marking its European Premiere

Press Release

4 July 2012 – “The Magnitsky Files,” an 18-minute documentary showcasing the links between the Russian government and organised crime, will be premiered at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Monaco on Thursday, 5 June 2012 at 12:30 pm.

The event entitled “Rule of Law and the Sergei Magnitsky Case” has been organized by members of national parliaments from a number of OSCE countries including: Joao Soares (Portugal), Walburga Habsburg-Douglas (Sweden), Matteo Mecacci (Italy), Tony Lloyd (UK), Hedy Fry (Canada), Doris Barnett (Germany) and Oleh Bilorus (Ukraine).

The screening will be taking place at the OSCE Parliamentary assembly’s annual meeting in which 320 members of parliament from 56 OSCE countries will be gathering to discuss human rights, conflict prevention and promotion of democracy throughout OSCE countries.

After the screening of “The Magnitsky Files”, William Browder, who is running a global campaign for justice for his late lawyer, will be leading a discussion about the Magnitsky case and what it means for the rule of law in Russia. He will also be working with members of different national parliaments around the world to promote visa sanctions and asset freezes of Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s persecution.

“The Magnitsky Files” show how Russian officials who have approved massive fraudulent tax refunds have close links and travelled on numerous occasions jointly with criminals who perpetrated the thefts.

“It was the exposure of these crimes and illicit connections that cost Mr Magnitsky his life,” said U.S. Senator John McCain (http://www.scribd.com/doc/98337177/Untitled).

Subsequent investigations by independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta showed that serial thefts from the Treasury continued after Sergei Magnitsky’s death, and that over $800 million was stolen between 2006 and 2010. Officials implicated in the thefts and their families have been shown to have enriched themselves with $47 million in property and assets held both in Russia and abroad.

“The Magnitsky Files” is dedicated to late Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for the Hermitage Fund, who uncovered and testified about the role of government officials in the serial thefts from the treasury, who then was arrested by the same officials he had testified against, and tortured to death in custody.

Over 250,000 Russians have already watched “Magnitsky Files” on Youtube since its release last Thursday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQP8IAITmk&feature=channel&list=UL). It has become one of the most frequent posts on Twitter, live Internet blogs and other social media. Russian state TV channels, however, have refused to show it or refer to it in any of their programming.

The U.S. premier of the “Magnitsky Files: Organized Crime Inside the Russian Government” documentary took place in Washington, D.C. last week with U.S. Senator John McCain and Freedom House’ David Kramer.

 

For further information please contact: 

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:       http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:            @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

ICTJ In Focus June 2012 Issue 14

ICTJ In Focus June 2012 Issue 14