EXCLUSIVE: In the early years of Syria's brutal conflict, top government officials established and directed paramilitary groups known as shabbiha to help the state crack down on opponents, war crimes investigators have documented
In a report shared with Reuters, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability published seven documents its investigators said showed that the highest levels of Syria's government "planned, organised, instigated and deployed" the shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.
One of the CCMC's first directives, dated April 18, 2011, and included in full in the report, ordered the Popular Committees to be trained on how to use weapons against demonstrators, as well as how to arrest them and hand them over to government forces. The report also draws on dozens of other papers, which were collected from government or military facilities after territory fell to the rebels. CIJA has not released all the documents it quotes from, saying some are being used in ongoing investigations in European countries.
"Here you have the paper trail that shows how these units were mobilized", one of CIJA's directors, Nerma Jelacic, told Reuters.
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