UN ready to release list of accused

UN investigators yesterday said they were prepared to publish secret lists of alleged war criminals in Syria to help stem an "exponential rise" in atrocities from nearly four years of war.

Releasing the lists would put "alleged perpetrators on notice" and could "serve to maximize the potential deterrent effect" and "help to protect people at risk of abuse," a commission of inquiry said in a new report.

The commission has drawn up four lists of individuals and groups it believes are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and has kept them locked up in a safe in Geneva, out of concern for due process.

But the investigators said they were ready to shift their approach after nearly four years of efforts.

"We are trying to convince, to mobilize the international community to consider all options on the table for accountability and not to ignore the horrific, the abominable situation of the victims of this war," Brazilian Paolo Pinheiro, who heads the panel, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

The investigators are set to hand over a fifth list of suspected war criminals to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next month, and Pinheiro said he expects a decision during the March 17 meeting on the release of the names.

More than 210,000 people have been killed in Syria and half of the population has been forced to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

The lists include a number of unit commanders and armed group leaders who were identified as perpetrators on the basis of their command responsibility.