Syrian mass graves show the worst abuses 'since the Nazis,' top prosecutor says

[Richard D]

“We are talking about a system of state terror," Stephen Rapp, former U.S. war crimes ambassador at large, said of how people lived in Syria under the Assad regime.

Mass graves uncovered in Syria in the days since President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown are exposing evidence of some of the worst abuses since the Nazis, a top international war crimes prosecutor said.

More than 100,000 people were tortured and killed in the state-run “machinery of death,” Stephen Rapp, former U.S. war crimes ambassador at large, told Reuters on Tuesday after visiting two mass grave sites in the towns of Qutayfah and Najha near Damascus.

“I don’t have much doubt about those kinds of numbers given what we’ve seen in these mass graves," said Rapp, who led prosecutions at both the Rwanda and Sierra Leone war crimes tribunals and is now working to help document evidence of war crimes in Syria.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna184644

[Turbineguy]

1. Putin needs to give Assad

a flying lesson.

[TheProle]

2. He'll give him a medal.

[dutch777]

3. Good idea but I think those are only reserved for vengeance and power holding, not justice.

And it would almost be too merciful.

[moondust]

4. I saw Mr. Rapp interviewed on BBC

in the last hour. He said there is tons of paperwork that needs to be digitized for investigation--after bodies are recovered and identified.

Bashar is right at home with his savior in Moscow.

[dutch777]

5. It will be interesting to see how the new regime deals with this and the international justice system

The new guys, given they were former associates of Al Quaeda, are no princes. But they do seem to be trying to be a uniting force that at least so far, seems more benign than the Taliban. I don't hold out much hope but would be a nice change of pace. They know they need sanctions lifted to have any hope of getting meaningful foreign support $$$.

[Blue_Tires]

6. Greenwald and Assange were unavailable for comment

😒