Unknown members of the Syrian Regime – investigation over the killing of journalists

Context

Ongoing investigation into the killing of French, Syrian and British journalists during an army bombardment of a media center in Syria in 2012

French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik and American war crimes correspondent Marie Colvin were both killed in the attack. Several other journalists were injured in the attack, including French journalist Edith Bouvier as well as Syrian and British journalists who were using the center as a base to report on the events in Homs in early 2012.

Procedure

This case was originally opened in 2012 as a homicide case but was reclassified in 2014 as a war crimes case.

The families of Ochlik and Colvin are civil parties in the case, together with French, Syrian and British journalists injured in the attack, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Reporters without Borders.

On 9 April 2018, documents filed in a United States civil case concerning Colvin’s death were declassified. They allegedly demonstrate the premeditated nature of the Syrian army bombardment of the media center in Homs that led to the death of Colvin and Ochlik and to the injuries to several others including Bouvier, Paul Conroy and Wael al Omar. These documents have been filed in the ongoing war crimes investigation in France.

On 30 January 2019, the US District Court in Washington DC held Syria’s government liable for the targeting and killing of Colvin and awarded a compensatory USD 302’000’000 to her relatives.