James Le Mesurier, 48, was found dead on Monday morning in front of his Istanbul office. The former British military officer helped found the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defense organization that has saved 114,000 lives in recent years.
The Foreign Office has condoled the relatives on Monday. The German government has been supporting the white helmets for a long time. Three days before his death, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that Le Mesurier was a former employee of the British intelligence service MI6.
Who was James Le Mesurier?
Born in Singapore and raised in the United Kingdom, Le Mesurier, like his father before, entered the British military. The prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst he finished as the best in class. As an infantryman, he took part in missions in Northern Ireland and Kosovo. In the Balkans he understood that humanitarian aid was better suited to preventing war than armed intervention. He then quit his military service.
For several years, he worked in the humanitarian divisions of private security companies before training the first 25 Syrians in war victims with the help of Turkish civil protection organization AKUT and $ 300,000 in donations from various states.
Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP
July 2019: White Helmets recover war victims in the Syrian city of Ariha
What role does Le Mesurier play in the White Helmets?
James Le Mesurier was the founder and director of the organization Mayday Rescue, which trains and supports the White Helmets. There are now about 3000 Weißhelm members.
The short documentary "The White Helmets" won an Oscar in 2017. The 40-minute film shows volunteer rescuers recovering casualties from collapsed homes previously bombed by Russian and Syrian military forces.
In one of these operations, the white helmets met with traces of chemical warfare agents. Their video footage and tissue and soil samples were used in a United Nations study that concluded that the Syrian regime had used the nerve agent sarin. The governments in Damascus and Moscow then launched a propaganda campaign against Le Mesurier and the White Helmets.
The allegations went so far as to accuse the group of staging the attacks shown in the film to provide a pretext for Western intervention. Another accusation was that the White Helmets had connections to the radical Islamic al-Qaeda.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, "The fate of the White Helmets will be the same as any other terrorist's, either putting down their weapons or liquidating them."
Le Mesurier was the winner of the high-ranking British "Order of the Empire" order, the White Helmets, officially recognized as Syria Civil Defense, in 2016 awarded the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize. A variety of governments, including the German, supports the white helmets financially.
What is known about his death?
Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported that several people found Le Mesurier's body near his apartment in Istanbul early in the morning when they were on their way to a mosque. According to the media, his body had broken ribs and broken legs, presumably he had fallen from the balcony. According to Anadalou, the 48-year-old moved to the Turkish capital four years ago with his wife.
Bulent Kilic / AFP
Istanbul: Le Mesurier's body was found outside his home on Monday
What rumors are there?
The Turkish news agency Demioren reports that on Le Mesurier's face traces of a sharp object had been detected. His body is currently undergoing a forensic investigation before being handed over to the British authorities.
According to media reports, Turkish security authorities believe that Le Mesurier fell from the balcony on the second floor.
His wife said that they took sleeping pills around four o'clock in the morning. The analysis of camera shots showed that nobody except Le Mesurier and his wife had been in the building, the door could only be opened by a lock with fingerprint sensor.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former army officer who worked with Le Mesurier, told the British "Telegraph" that Le Mesurier made a good impression when he met him last month.
"He took security issues very seriously," says de Bretton-Gordon. "He was a soldier, aware of the risks of operating in such a world, and he did everything he could to minimize those dangers."