Syria war crimes justice unlikely despite evidence: experts

The chances of anyone being prosecuted for Syrian war crimes are today smaller than ever, experts say, as realpolitik smothers an increasingly solid mountain of evidence accumulated during the often barbaric four-year conflict.

Rights groups have steadfastly documented atrocities committed on the ground, and on May 13 a committee of renowned investigators said it had enough evidence to prosecute up the chain of command to President Bashar al-Assad himself.
 
But while those dossiers, collected by the Western-backed Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) including former investigators from international tribunals, claim for the first time to be "trial ready," the world is not.
 
For political reasons, there is no court able to judge the crimes committed in a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people, including at least 67,000 civilians and 11,000 children.
 
"It's very likely that no conflict has ever received as much investigatorial attention of mass atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity, with so little justice," said London-based international law expert Mark Kersten.
         
The International Criminal Court, which judges the world's most serious crimes, has no jurisdiction in Syria as it is not a member and ally Russia is expected to block the UN Security Council from authorising an ICC investigation.
 
At the same time, many now consider Assad a "necessary evil" in any peaceful end to the conflict, so the international community is also unlikely to set up an ad hoc tribunal such as that created after the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia.
 
"You have to wait for regime change in Syria, for a post-revolution truth commission, fact-finding and...