War Crime Evidence Destroyed In Afghanistan, Commission Finds

Ethnic-Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum is a top suspect.

December 29, 2008

 

Evidence of war crimes on the site of a 2001 massacre believed to contain the remains of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners has been destroyed, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has announced.

Provisional justice director for northern Afghanistan Farid Mutaqqi confirmed the evidence’s destruction at the controversial Dasht-i Lalli grave in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan.

Mutaqqi blamed the cover-up on those responsible for the massacre. Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who helped U.S. forces topple the Taliban in 2001, is the chief suspect in the massacre.

The Afghan government asked for NATO protection for the grave after armed men reportedly tried to remove bodies from the remote northern Jawzjan desert site.

Source: http://www.rferl.org