Today, with the support of the UN, one of these former prisoners, the defender of Syrian human rights Riyad Avlar, works to discover what has happened to those who are not doing – and to seek justice for disappearance.
He remembers the amazed response of a mother when he told her that his son had died in detention: “I accept that, but I haven’t lost hope. One day, my son will enter and meet you here. “”
His words reflect the resilience of families who continue to seek truth and justice after years of uncertainty, insists that Riyadh, who was imprisoned for more than two decades after being arrested in 1996 at the age of 19.
Document the absence, to preserve the truth
For Riyadh, his fight for justice did not end with his release in 2017.
Before his appointment at Independent UN institution on people who have disappeared in SyriaThe first advisory advice, Riyadh channeled his experience to support the survivors of detention and their families through the Association of Prisoners and the disappearance of the Sednaya prison (ADMSP).
The founders of the association include former prisoners like Riyadh and have become a crucial source of documentation, support and advocacy.
“Our mission”, he explains, “consists in empowering survivors and families of disappearance to be central actors of transitional justice, responsibility and repairs in Syria.”
Since its creation, ADMSP has created two databases: the first recordings of testimonies from Sednaya survivors and, since 2021, detention centers across Syria.
These testimonies identify abuse authors, the last observations of prisoners and the models of violations. The second database collects information from families looking for relatives, often providing them with the first reliable confirmation of what happened.
The cages in which prisoners were apparently held are represented in the infamous Sednaya prison in Damascus.
An approach to do non-lamb
“Each interview is conducted face to face, with particular attention to avoid re-traumatization”, ” Explains Riyadh. In addition to the documentation, the association manages a center offering psychotherapy, physiotherapy and group therapy for survivors and families facing the trauma of disappearance. He also protects families from being extorted by people selling lies to the fate of their missing parents by helping them to check what they were told.
Constant fear of execution
Riyadh’s dramatic history began when he left his rural village in Türkiye to continue his studies in Syria. Arrested in 1996 by the Assad regime and even 20 years old, he was then detained from 15 years. His family learned that he was alive thanks to the intervention of a friend’s mother.
During his detention, Riyad has endured lonely isolation, torture and almost total isolation. “I saw my brother twice, for 15 minutes each, in more than two decades,” he recalls. “When I was released, my mother just held me and inspired me; She wanted to remember the smell of her son. Later, when my son was a year and a half, I finally understood why my mother clung to me like that. »»
Developed a fair trial and accused of accusations manufactured, Riyadh experienced a constant fear of execution. These experiences, he says, are what pushes him to guarantee that the voices of survivors shape the continuation of responsibility and justice.
Everyone suffers in their own way
In addition to the horrors inflicted on the disappearance of Syria, another common denominator is the anxiety that torments their families. Mothers live for unanswered years, while wives and children face stigma, harassment and exile, explains Riyadh.
“Each family member suffers differently,” he says. “But what unites them is the right to know. »»
Riyad Avlar was detained for 21 years. During his detention in the prisons of the Assad regime in Syria, Riyad has endured lonely isolation, torture and almost total isolation.
A world mandate for justice
Today, Riyadh is sits on the advisory council of the Independent institution on people who have disappeared in SyriaEstablished in 2023 by the General Assembly of the United Nations to approach one of the most painful inheritances of the conflict.
Selected among more than 250 candidates, the board of directors of 11 members includes representatives of the families of the victims, Syrian civil society and international experts. It is mandated to clarify the fate of missing families, support families and contribute to responsibility.
According to the NGO Syrian Network for Human Rights, At least 181,312 individuals remain arbitrarily or disappear, including 5,332 children and 9 201 women.
“The task is immense,” says Riyadh New News, of his Home in Turkïye. “But with cooperation between Syrian organizations and the international community, the institution can establish clear protocols for notification, psychological support and recognition of disappeared.”
A heavy responsibility
To the survivors of detention, Riyadh sends a message of solidarity: “We have to raise our voices and demand justice – not revenge – but responsibility and repairs. We are alive, and it is a responsibility. ”
His message is also that of survival. “When I was arrested, the phones were the elders with a push button. And when I got out, I saw phones that you just touch with your finger … Life had changed so much, I was shocked. The village I had left behind was very underdeveloped, but now they had paved roads, people had cars; There were taps of water inside the houses, even a boarding system.
“Little by little, I adapted myself. I decided that I had to go ahead, because after such a long absence-20 years-it was as if someone had frozen me in a freezer and then suddenly, I was released in a science fiction film. »»
He stresses that the families of the missing must never be left unanswered, and each Syrian family has the right to know the fate of their loved ones, to put them to rest with dignity and to start the healing process.
And if the truth is the cornerstone of the future of Syria, the same goes for transitional justice, maintains Riyad, with survivors and families playing a central role in the formation of what comes next.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
