Syria's new leaders must ensure 'atrocities' not repeated: UN investigators

UN war crimes investigators described Bashar al-Assad's fall from power as a "historic new beginning" for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the "atrocities" committed under his regime are not repeated.

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI), which has been investigating and recording all alleged war crimes and other violations of international human rights law since shortly after Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, highlighted the evidence of abuses lingering inside the now emptying detention centres.

COI chair Paulo Pinheiro pointed to the "prisoners being released after decades in arbitrary detention from the infamous Sednaya Prison outside Damascus", in a "scene that millions of Syrians could not have imagined a few days ago".

"It is incumbent on those now in charge to ensure that such atrocities are never again repeated within the walls of Sednaya or any other detention centre in Syria," he said. 

One of the commissioners, Lynn Welchman, urged those now taking charge of Syria's detention centres to "take great care not to disturb evidence of violations and crimes".