Thousands of Syrian government documents recovered amid the country’s civil war provide a paper trail showing widespread and systematic human rights violations by its powerful security agencies, according to a Syrian-led organization that analyzed the papers, the Syria Justice and Accountability Center.

As Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, closes in on victory over an eight-year revolt, a secret, industrial-scale system of arbitrary arrests and torture prisons has been pivotal to his success. While the Syrian military, backed by Russia and Iran, fought armed rebels for territory, the government waged a ruthless war on civilians, throwing hundreds of thousands into filthy dungeons where thousands were tortured and killed.

A Taiwanese artist has created a giant inflatable depiction of the iconic "tank man" scene to mark 30 years since China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The photo of a man standing in front of a tank in Beijing's Tiananmen Square became one of the most famous photos of the 20th Century and a symbol of peaceful resistance across the world.  

Following the surprise release of former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan from jail last weekend, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused both his country’s judicial system and the de facto leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh of conspiring against him and his government.

Armenian prosecutors have lodged appeals against court decisions to suspend the trial of former President Robert Kocharian and release him from pretrial detention.

The Prosecutor-General's Office told RFE/RL on May 23 that it had appealed "two rulings by a first-instance court, one on terminating the proceedings in the criminal case in relation to Kocharian and other high-ranking officials, and the other on freeing Kocharian from arrest."

Lawmakers in El Salvador agreed on Thursday to suspend a controversial amnesty bill following an outcry from victims’ families, the United Nations and rights groups.

In July 2016, the Supreme Court of Justice declared unconstitutional a 1993 amnesty law that prevented investigation, prosecution and imprisonment of people responsible for war crimes. The amnesty bill proposed community service instead of jail time and would have released former combatants in prison in 2016. Judges ordered Congress to adopt a new law to promote national reconciliation before July 2019. 

Northern Ireland's Parliament, the Stormont, has been in crisis for more than two years after a power-sharing government made up of Protestant and Catholic coalition parties collapsed in 2017.

Senior Associate at International Center for Transitional Justice Ruben Carranza is heading to Armenia from the United States to help work out “transitional justice” program, Voice of America reports.

He said Armenia needs to work out criteria to be applied for all for the process not to be perceived as political vendetta.

A United Nations body has condemned Ministry of Defence plans to grant military veterans amnesty from prosecution for historical offences. The Geneva-based UN Committee Against Torture called on the UK government to “refrain from enacting legislation that would grant amnesty or pardon” to troops accused of ill-treatment. This week the defense secretary, Penny Mordaunt, announced proposals to grant immunity for offences committed more than 10 years ago in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else outside the UK.

A longtime chief of the Basque militant separatist group ETA was arrested Thursday in a French Alps town after being on the run for 17 years, Spanish authorities said, proudly announcing the capture of a man accused of crimes against humanity. José Antonio Urruticoetxea Bengoetxea, known by the alias Josu Ternera, has been the most wanted ETA member since 2002. Prosecutors said he will be brought before the Paris prosecutor’s office on Friday. Since he was convicted in absentia, Ternera has the right to request a new trial.