ISTANBUL
Syrian activists have witnesses and evidence to prove that the Syrian regime is guilty of systematic war crimes against prisoners, Imamuddin al-Rashid from Syrian National Movement told the Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
"Scores of witnesses are ready to explain every detail if legal action is taken against these crimes," he said, referring to Thursday's UN Security Council resolution calling for the International Criminal Court to investigate violations in Syria.
The resolution will not come into effect as it was vetoed by Russia and China.
Al-Rashid said a set of photographs obtained and published by the Anadolu Agency in January documented war crimes committed only in Damascus.
"If other regions were taken into account, the number of Syrians who suffered torture at the hands of the regime would rise at least six-fold," he said.
On January 20, a Syrian military police officer, code-named "Caesar," leaked photographs of tens of thousands Syrians said to have been tortured and killed by the Assad regime.
Al-Rashid said the causes of deaths revealed by regime officials to prisoners' families were false according to the evidences the Syrian National Movement collected.
He also criticized Russia for the stance it took regarding the Syrian civil war, saying its veto in UN Security Council would mean being associate in crimes committed by the Syrian regime.
Thursday's move was the fourth UN Security Council resolution on Syria vetoed by Russia.
The draft resolution offered by France included the referral of the situation in Syria since 2011 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and stressed that the situation in Syria was a threat to international peace and security. It also condemned the crimes that the Syrian pro-regime armed groups and other non-governmental militia groups had committed since March 2011.
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