Iraq on Saturday commemorated the ninth anniversary of the Speicher massacre, which was committed by ISIS in June 2014.
The terrorist group captured and murdered primarily students at the College of Aviation and security personnel within the well-known military base, "Speicher," in Salah ad Din Governorate in 2014.
By June 2014, ISIS took control of one third of the country, including vast areas in the north, east and the west of Iraq before the government was capable of defeating the terrorist group three years later.
Saturday’s commemoration was held at the crime scene in the presidential palaces complex in Tikrit.
Tens of families and relatives of the victims, in addition to Iraqi officials and representatives from the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (UNITAD), attended the event.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who served as prime minister while Iraq was battling ISIS from 2014 till 2017, said in a tweet that “Today is the anniversary of the biggest and most dangerous national wound, the anniversary of the fall of Mosul in the hands of (ISIS) terrorism and barbarism.”
He added: “The fall of Mosul was only the result of the enemies' plans, and of corruption, mismanagement, sectarianism, and hatred."
On Saturday, UNITAD said in a statement that the Speicher crime represents the largest documented mass killing.
The Chief of Office of Field Investigations, Defne Akca, said: “The United Nations investigation team is conducting its investigations regarding this crime, which is one of the largest documented mass killings, which claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 martyrs.”
During the memorial event on the tragedy, Akca added that efforts will continue to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The international community, under international law, considers these crimes to be among the greatest crimes committed, and by collecting evidence, the perpetrators of this crime will be held accountable in accordance with international standards, even after decades.”
Akca pointed out that the team is working with the Iraqi authorities to find the culprits.
Despite the brutality of the "Speicher" crime, many of its chapters remain unresolved. The identity of all the elements involved in the massacre remain unknown.
Also, there are still hundreds of unidentified bodies in the forensic medicine department while no exact figures were given regarding the number of people killed in the massacre. Reports said ISIS killed between 1,700 to 2,000 Iraqi cadets.
Meanwhile, families of the victims have not received the compensation approved by Iraqi laws for this type of victim.
ISIS members were held responsible for the crime. Iraqi courts already sentenced several people to death over their involvement in the June 2014 massacre.
However, Hassan Salem, a deputy from Asaib Ahl al-Haq, held the family of the late President Saddam Hussein responsible for the massacre, as they resided near the area of the presidential palace where the massacre was carried out.
Meanwhile, Moeen al-Kadhimi, the head of the Speicher Massacre Memorial Committee, said on Saturday that more than 900 families of the victims, distributed in the governorates of Najaf, Diwaniyah, Babel and Karbala, did not obtain their full rights, guaranteed by law.
At the memorial event held in the presidential palace complex, he added that “we are working diligently to search for the 500 missing persons through the Martyrs' Foundation/Mass Graves Department.”
Al-Khadhimi also said that the Committee is working to expedite DNA testing for 140 remains currently at the forensic department.
The Ministry of Health must hasten this process and end the suffering of the martyrs' families, he added.
