International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Head of Delegation in Syria Stephan Sakalian said the case of people who have been forcibly disappeared during the civil war in Syria is a “horrific tragedy” that will remain open given the difficulty in locating all the mass graves in the country.
The ICRC fears that several of the graves will remain undiscovered for a very long time, he told Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview from his Damascus office.
The Syria Justice and Accountability Center revealed on Thursday that more than 1,000 Syrians died in detention at the Mezzeh military airport on the outskirts of Damascus, killed by execution, torture or maltreatment at a site that was widely feared.
Sakalian said it may take months and even years before the whole picture is complete over these sites in order to pursue justice.
The priority now lies in meeting the demands of the tens of thousands of families that are still searching for their disappeared relatives, he went on to say.
From the second day since the ouster of the Assad regime, the ICRC asked that the discovered mass graves be protected, he revealed.
It has held bilateral talks with the new Syrian rulers to ensure that civilians don’t take it upon themselves to retrieve the bodies, Sakalian said.
The ICRC has also been in contact with several of the relatives of the missing and civil and international organizations to collect important information that would help locate the known mass graves.
He acknowledged that identifying the remains of the victims could take years. The families will have to wait to receive the answers they are seeking, while the ICRC is committed to helping the authorities reach these answers, no matter how long it takes.
The ICRC will never give up the search for disappeared people, he vowed. No case will be closed before reaching a definitive answer.
However, he warned that some families may never find out what happened to their loved ones or where they were buried.
Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, the ICRC, in cooperation with Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, registered the disappearance of 35,000 people in Syria.
Sakalian said the figure is likely much higher than that.
Resolving the fate of disappeared persons is complicated and may take years, but the ICRC is committed to supporting the families in their search, he stressed.
Sakalian recalled his visit to the notorious Sednaya prison after the collapse of the regime on December 8.
He said it was a very difficult moment for thousands of families who had flocked to the facility in search of their loved ones.
These families have endured unbearable suffering for several years and their anger and frustration are justified. They have the right to find out the fate of their relatives, said Sakalian.
