Rosamund Pike has said it is a “very, very, very good day” after a US court found the Syrian government liable for the death of Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin.
The British actress plays the award-winning war correspondent, who was killed in a rocket attack in Homs, Syria in February 2012, in the new film A Private War.
Colvin was on assignment for the newspaper alongside photographer Paul Conroy, played in the film by Jamie Dornan, who escaped with a leg injury.
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.
Speaking minutes after the judgment, Pike told the Press Association: “It’s the most astonishing verdict, such a resounding declaration by the judge in the States that the Assad regime has been found guilty on all counts of targeting the media, silencing journalism, killing Marie.
“It’s colossal, it’s everything Paul Conroy, who Jamie plays, and Marie’s sister Cat Colvin, have been fighting for and the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network.
“It’s just huge, so we have the answer to that and it’s a very, very, very good day.”
Pike will be joined by Dornan, Conroy and director Matthew Heineman for a question and answer session and screening on February 4, which will be broadcast live to cinemas around the country.
A Private War will go on general release on February 15.