Three prominent advocacy groups from France, Russia and Syria will file a criminal complaint over 2017 taking the head of a Syrian man.
Three NGOs have filed a lawsuit in Moscow against Wagner, a Russian private military contractor, over the torture of a detainee in Syria, aimed at linking a fake fighting force to ties with the Kremlin.
The lawsuit against Wagner Group on Monday follows a wave of tort-related cases in Europe against officials from a ten-year Syrian regime to a punitive war whose tide was turned by the 2015 Moscow military intervention. .
Three prominent claim groups from France, Russia and Syria filed the criminal complaint against accused members of the contractor’s clothing over the 2017 head of a man believed to have fled the Syrian army.
The complaint, on behalf of the victim’s family, is aimed at forcing Moscow to bring criminal proceedings against accused members of the private contractor group, in what NGOs say is the first case of its kind. .
In a statement, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Memorial and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression said they had submitted evidence that clearly links at least one defendant to Wagner.
Wagner, an undercover armor in which private fighters are linked to the Kremlin wars in Ukraine, Africa and the Middle East, has been linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin, 59, who was beaten by U.S. sanctions for running in the 2016 U.S. primary elections, denies any connection to Wagner.
The proceedings represent a rare attempt to bring Wagner out into the open several years after reports of their use in conflict across the Middle East and Africa.
“This complaint is important because we are not just dealing with a single crime. This is a wave of obstruction, ”Alexander Cherkasov, a senior member of Remembrance, told AFP news agency.
“People who escape with punishment after committing such crimes will be repeated in places like Chechnya, eastern Ukraine and Syria. Eventually, they will return to Russia and walk the streets among us. “
Syrian intervention
While private arms companies are illegal in Russia, observers say Wagner has played a more important role in pushing and realizing Kremlin’s intentions abroad.
The group was considering a coup with Russian warplanes and ground troops following Moscow’s intervention in the war in Syria in September 2015 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad’s army.
His presence there had to be revealed in 2018 when the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that a number of Russian men, who executed and executed a detainee were videoed there. the eastern Homs area, the Wagner fighters.
This December 16, 2015, Russian S-400 air defense missile systems will be deployed at Hemeimeem airport in Syria [Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP]‘Moral burden’
Ilya Novikov, a lawyer for a Syrian man ‘s family, said that Russia has a constitutional duty to investigate crimes committed by Russian nationals abroad, adding that “the Audit Committee has not yet started any investigation into the crime in question ”.
The protest on Monday follows dozens brought by Germany, Austria, Sweden and Norway against officials in the al-Assad government with about 100 refugees, backed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Berlin based NGO.
Across Europe, protesters are joining police investigators and DAs in gathering testimonials, sifting through tens of thousands of photos, videos and files of one of the conflicts. best recorded in history.