Pressed for Answers on Syria Cover-Up, OPCW Chief Offers New L | G3 News

Pressed for Answers on Syria Cover-Up, OPCW Chief Offers New Lies and Excuses

@G3News: In the two years since the censorship of a Syria chemical weapons investigation was exposed, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Fernando Arias, has vigorously resisted accountability.

Arias has refused to investigate or explain the extensive manipulation of the OPCW's probe of an alleged April 2018 chlorine attack in Douma. Rather than answer calls to meet with the veteran inspectors who protested the deception, Arias has disparaged them. The OPCW Director General has even resorted to feigning ignorance about the scandal, recently claiming that "I don’t know why" the organization's final report on Douma "was contested."

Facing growing pressure to address the cover-up—most prominently in a "Statement of Concern" from 28 notable signatories, including five former senior OPCW officials—Arias came before the UN Security Council on June 3rd to answer questions in open session for the first time.

In a nod to the public outcry, Arias backtracked from a previous statement that the Douma controversy could not be revisited. But while appearing to suggest that the investigation could be reopened, Arias offered more falsehoods about the scandal, and new disingenuous excuses to avoid addressing it.
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