16 Mar 2021; MEMO: Three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) yesterday filed a landmark case in Moscow against Russia's Wagner mercenary group over the torture and murder of a detainee in Syria in 2017.
"This litigation is a first-ever attempt by the family of a Syrian victim to hold Russian suspects accountable for serious crimes committed in Syria," the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Russia's top rights group Memorial and the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression said in a joint statement.
Video footage published by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta shows a group of six men torturing a Syrian detainee. The victim, Mohammed Taha Ismail Al-Abdullah, is believed to have deserted from President Bashir Al-Assad's army and then been captured, the Guardian reported.
The victim's brother is now seeking justice.
