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US ambassador: Syria's Assad could escape criminal prosecution
Syrian President Bashar Assad could escape criminal prosecution even if his government falls, the U.S. ambassador to Syria said Thursday.
Robert Ford reiterated that the Obama administration is determined not to let “Assad and his clique” play any role in the country's political transition. However, Ford said, Assad could be allowed to step down without facing trial if that's what the Syrians want.
“We have a very clear position with respect to accountability,” Ford said in keynote remarks at daylong conference of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “But I also have to say that ultimately the political solution that we're talking about has to be done between Syrians, not Americans.
“Ultimately this is a Syrian revolution, not an American war or something. So in the end if Syrians decide that it is better not to pursue Bashar Assad, that is a Syrian decision. But we do think that the extent of the brutality and the extent of the violence requires at least some level of accountability for officials in Syria is likely going to be demanded. And I think a lot of Syrians will demand that. The particular status of any one individual, I'm going to leave that Syrians.”
Ford said the U.S. State Department has made “the tools available” for Syrians so they can “pursue options on accountability if they wish to do so.”
“We've actually worked with Syrian investigators, started training them on how to develop war crime files and criminal files,” Ford said. “We in fact have established a training center in Lyon, France, with American money [from the State Department] to train Syrian investigators in how to develop dossiers, how to develop criminal trials. We're working with seven other countries in that center.”
On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United Nations Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Ireland to try to renew a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Clinton is expected to officially recognize the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate successor to Assad's government during a meeting of a U.S.-backed Friends of Syria in Morocco next week.
