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Syria rights report biased, mum on militants terrorist acts: Russia

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 5, 2013 3:53PM GMT

Russia says certain states have used a 'biased' United Nations human rights report on Syria to censure the Damascus government while ignoring abuses committed by foreign-backed militants in the Arab country.

Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Wednesday statement that the recent report by UN investigators pointed to torture, abductions and other abuses by the takfiri militants, but "preferred not to qualify bombings carried out by rebels in Syrian cities as terrorist acts."

The sharply worded statement added that the report also remained silent on other "bestial acts" by the militants "including many cases of sexual violence against women."

The UN commission of inquiry on Tuesday accused the Syrian government forces of committing war crimes and claimed that Syrian leaders must be held responsible for their policies.

However, the Russian ministry said certain states have employed "the one-sidedness and prejudice" of the report to once again to hold the government of President Bashar al-Assad responsible for what is taking place in the Arab state and "not say a word about the many crimes and human rights violations by armed radical groups."

The statement further noted that those states' position was playing into the hands of the "radical opposition" and decreasing the chances of holding a forthcoming international conference on Syria in Geneva.

Russia and the United States agreed in Moscow on May 7 to convene the international conference, which will serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting held in June 2012.

On May 26, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said that his country agrees "in principle" to attend the conference.

He noted that any deal reached at the conference will have to be put to a referendum in Syria.

Syria has been gripped by a deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants fighting in Syria.

MR/KA