Senators want to draft a law that would allow the arrest and prosecution of war criminals in the United States, even if they are foreigners and have committed crimes in any other country.
Against the background of atrocities of the Russian military Ukraine U.S. senators have begun drafting a bill that would allow courts to hear war crimes cases even if neither side is a U.S. citizen. This was reported by The New York Times.
Senators from both parties signed an agreement to draft and amend the 1996 war crimes law. They plan to empower U.S. courts to try war crimes and atrocities committed abroad, even if neither party is a U.S. citizen. The senators were motivated by the brutal crimes of the Russian military against the civilian population of Ukraine.
The idea is to identify, arrest, and prosecute war criminals, even if they have committed crimes in other countries and later traveled to the United States.
Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Richard J. Durbin of Illinois. They are currently negotiating with members of the House of Representatives on a possible accompanying bill.
“The United States should not be a safe haven for war criminals who want to evade justice in their home country,” Senator Grassley told The Times. “This bill sends a strong signal that people who commit war crimes are not welcomed here and should be punished, regardless of where their crime was committed or who fell victim to it.”
Senator Durbin stated that this law would fill a “glaring gap in our (US) editors' laws” to ensure that foreign war criminals are brought to justice in the United States.
“The perpetrators of unspeakable war crimes, such as those unfolding before our eyes in Ukraine, must be brought to justice. We have the authority and responsibility to ensure that the United States is not used as a safe haven by the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.” Durbin said.
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Adopted by Congress in 1996, the War Crimes Act incorporates part of international war law into domestic American law. The act recognized a “serious violation” of the 1949 Geneva Conventions as a crime to be prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice. Serious violations include the premeditated killing of civilians, torture, biological experiments, and “mass destruction and misappropriation of property not justified by military necessity and committed unlawfully and unjustifiably.”
It will be recalled that in early April, the whole world was shocked by the atrocities committed by Russian invaders in Bucha, Irpen and Gostomel in Kyiv region. Civilians were found tortured or shot, many bodies were in mass graves, and many women and girls were raped by the Russian military. And while Russian propaganda is trying to convince Russian soldiers that they are not committing any war crimes in Ukraine, the occupiers themselves are flaunting their atrocities in telephone conversations..
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