MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - An international investigation group, funded by the British government, is collecting evidence against Islamic State (ISIS) leaders over their alleged complicity in various crimes in Iraq and Syria, the BBC reported.
“What we are after are the highest-level members of ISIS because these individuals are just as responsible for the countless murders as those men who kill with their own hands,” the BBC quoted the chief investigator as saying on condition of anonymity Wednesday. The group reportedly has boxes full of documents, memory sticks and other documents that prove ISIS crimes, the BBC reported.
The investigators are based in an undisclosed European city, and receive some $70,000 monthly from the British government. They are also paying sources in Syria and its neighboring countries, the BBC said.
According to the BBC, the group has managed to compile around 400 files on ISIS leaders and criminal activities of the group’s fighters. Kidnapping, executions and torture are among the actions incriminating the extremist group. The investigators claim some of the files will be completed in 2014, but stressed that it is almost impossible to prosecute the terrorist group’s leaders as they are well-hidden and protected, and because Syria is not ready for legal action against them.
The ISIS, a Sunni extremist group formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, separated from al-Qaeda and started fighting the Syrian government in 2012. In 2014, they launched an offensive on Iraq and captured vast territories there, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate in June 2014. The organization has become infamous for its brutality and commitment to radical Islam.
