Rosamund Pike pays tribute to Marie Colvin as US court rules Syrian government liable for war reporter's death

War photographer Paul Conroy has said he feels "emotional and vindicated" after a US court found the Syrian government liable for the death of Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin.

The award-winning war correspondent, 56, was killed alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik in a rocket attack on a media centre in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs in February 2012.

It happened while the American journalist was on assignment with Mr Conroy and Syrian translator Wael al-Omar.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin was killed in Syria in 2012 during a rocket attack on a media centre. Credit: PA

Hollywood actress Rosamund Pike, who plays Colvin in a new film A Private War, told ITV News: "It became apparent that what Marie was saying was powerful enough that the leaders of a powerful regime felt the need to kill her for it.

"That is ultimately the message that needs to be out there: that what journalists are doing, when they're on the level of Marie is something that is so important that anybody in power that they're speaking against feels the need to quash it."

Paul Conroy said he hoped the focus turns again to the Syrian regime. Credit: ITV News

Reacting to the court ruling, Mr Conroy told ITV News: "We all miss Marie and it's a chance not to just focus on Marie's death but the people we went to report on, that's the important part of this story.

"We can focus the prism back on this regime and their crimes."

In the wake of her death, Ms Colvin's sister Cathleen and her three children launched legal action in the US against the Syrian government, filed through the Centre for Justice and Accountability, charging it with arranging her death.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, has ruled Colvin was deliberately targeted by the Syrian government and ordered it to pay 302 million US dollars (#230 million) in damages.

War photographer Paul Conroy said he didn't think the attacks were random. Credit: PA

Mr Conroy, a former soldier with the Royal Artillery who worked closely with Ms Colvin, escaped with a leg wound in the attack.

He said: "Since we came out of Syria and I spoke with everyone and I said 'in my opinion these attacks weren't random'.

"I sat for a long time listening to the shelling and it was random, up and down, and on the day of the attack there was a distinct pattern of bracketing and that has stuck with me.

"A lot of people were like 'oh you got caught up in crossfire, you were in a war zone', and granted we were, but as an artilleryman I knew the fire patterns, I detected that."

Mr Conroy said he told Ms Colvin's sister Cathleen, who contacted the Centre for Justice and Accountability.

He added: "It's been in the courts for what seems like an age now but to actually see the verdict come out, it vindicates everything I was saying, all the people who were there, and the world must know.

"This regime has done this to its own people. We are using this case to highlight what he has done to his people, we are lucky that we can bring the case when in reality it is to refocus the prism back on the regime and the way they approach the lockdown of their own people, their own press.

"Syrian journalists are being murdered daily for seven years and this is a really good day, it sounds a bit corny, for justice.

"We can now use this case to point at our own politicians and world leaders who are thinking that the Assad regime can be rehabilitated back into the international democratic fold, as it were.

"Rehabilitation by degree shouldn't be allowed, we can now go 'look a court has found them guilty of this' - and guilty they are."

Mr Conroy said he felt "really emotional" after hearing that verdict but asked if he thinks it will make a difference, he said: "I think it's too late for the people of Syria, they have been through the worst hell anyone can imagine.

"It's also important that we keep this going, the case against the regime is now proven, this should now go into the higher courts and these people should be held to account. It's a great building block.

"The evidence that the UN has about atrocities and massacres is undoubtable but it needs will, political will, to bring these people to account. But hopefully this is the start."

A memorial page to Marie Colvin during a church service for journalists who have lost their lives in war zones, at St Brides Church, London. Credit: PA

Ms Colvin's sister Cathleen said in a statement: "It's been almost seven years since my sister was killed by the Assad regime and not a day goes by when I don't think of her.

"My heart goes out to the families of the many thousands of victims of the Syrian conflict.

"It is my greatest hope that the court's ruling will lead to other criminal prosecutions and serve as a deterrent against future attacks on the press and on civilians.

"Marie dedicated her life to fighting for justice on behalf of the victims of war and ensuring that their stories were heard.

"This case is an extension of her legacy and I think she'd be proud of what we achieved."

In her ruling, Judge Jackson determined the attack was part of "Syria's long-standing policy of violence" against media personnel, who were "labelled enemies of the state".

She added: "By perpetrating a directed attack against the media centre, Syria intended to intimidate journalists, inhibit news gathering and the dissemination of information, and suppress dissent.

"A targeted murder of an American citizen, whose courageous work was not only important but vital to our understanding of war zones and of wars generally, is outrageous."

The film about Ms Colvin, A Private War, will be released in UK cinemas on February 15.