France welcomes appointment of new Syria investigation chief

PARIS, July 4 (KUNA) -- France on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of Catherine Marchi-Uhel, a former French judge, to head up the International, Impartial and Independent Enquiry into most serious war crimes in Syria.
A Foreign Ministry statement noted the decision taken by UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres to appoint the French woman who has worked with prior UN missions in Kosovo and Cambodia and has served in a legal capacity on the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
The mission carried out by Marchi-Uhel is complementary to existing enquiries into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria and it will seek to identify and bring to trial persons behind the most serious crimes against international humanitarian law during the six-year-old conflict.
Around 400,000 mostly civilians are believed to have died in the fighting in Syria and around half of the 24 million population are either refugees or have been internally displaced. (end) jk.mt