시리아 ‘강제실종자’ 6만5천명···브로커, 가족들에 실종자 정보 미끼로 ‘뇌물’ 요구

* ‘아시아엔’ 연수 외국기자가 작성한 기사의 한글요약본과 원문을 함께 게재합니다.

[아시아엔=라드와 아시라프 기자·번역 최정아 기자] 시리아에서 영문도 모른채 수감된 실종자 가족들의 간절한 마음을 이용해 브로커들이 금품을 갈취한 사실이 드러났다. 이 브로커들은 시리아 정부와 밀접한 관계가 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다.

국제인권단체 ‘엠네스티’는 5일 발표한 ‘감옥과 무덤사이 : 시리아 강제실종’ 보고서에서 “시리아 내전 이후 6만5천여명의 민간인이 강제실종(감금)됐으며, 실종자 가족들은 암시장을 통해 브로커에게 이들의 행방을 파악하는 대가로 많게는 수만 달러를 지급하고 있다”며 “시리아 정부도 이들 브로커로부터 이득을 취하고 있다”고 밝혔다. 프랑스 매체 <프랑스24>(France 24) 또한 “브로커들이 수감자 가족들에게 수백에서 수천 달러의 뇌물을 받고, 수감자들의 정보를 가족들에게 팔고 있다”고 보도했다.?이 ‘뇌물’은 시리아 경제의 큰 부분을 차지하고 있다.

엠네스티는 영국 <BBC>에 “수감된 이들은 열악한 조건에서 생활하고 있으며, 외부세계와 완전히 단절되어 있다”며 “많은 사람들이 질병, 고문, 사형 등으로 인해 숨졌다”고 밝혔다.?인권 활동가들은 “브로커들이 실종자 가족들에게 뇌물을 지불하라고 강요했다”며 “브로커들은 실종자 정보를 알고 있는 유일한 사람들이기 때문에, 실종자 가족들은 선택의 여지가 없다”고 밝혔다.

엠네스티는 시리아에 문제해결을 촉구했지만, 당국은 아무 답변도 내놓지 않은 상태다.

Syrian regime profits from enforced disappearances

According to?Amnesty International report published Thursday, the?Syrian state is profiting from enforced disappearances via a black market of bribes paid in exchange for information on missing people.

In a report titled, “Between Prison and the Grave: Enforced Disappearances in Syria”, the London-based rights group accuses Syrian officials and prison staff of benefiting from bribes ranging range “from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars”, paid by desperate family members to “middlemen” and “brokers” in exchange for information on their loved ones, according to France24.

One rights activist said such bribes had become “a big part of the economy”.?As many as 65,000 people have been detained since 2011 in a campaign of enforced disappearances that Amnesty considers a crime against humanity.

The human rights group says those taken are usually held in overcrowded detention cells in appalling conditions and cut off from the outside world. Many die as a result of rampant disease, torture and extrajudicial execution, it adds according to a BBC report.

The rights watchdog interviewed relatives of the disappeared who said they had been forced to pay bribes to middlemen with close ties to the authorities to gain information on the fate of their family members.

Amnesty said it had attempted to discuss the issue with the Syrian authorities and was awaiting a response. The Syrian government has regularly dismissed reports accusing the state of human rights abuses.

At times huge sums are paid for false information. The Amnesty report cites the case of a man whose three brothers were disappeared in 2012. He told Amnesty International he had borrowed more than $150,000 in failed attempts to find out where they are. He is now in Turkey working to pay back his debts.

The report said family members who tried to inquire about disappeared relatives were often at risk of arrest or being forcibly disappeared themselves, which gave them little choice but to resort to using middlemen.

One man who asked the authorities about his brother’s whereabouts was detained for three months and spent several weeks in solitary confinement.

“Enforced disappearances are part of a deliberate, brutal campaign by the Syrian government,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program.