[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 934 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 934

   To amend title 28, United States Code, relating to jurisdictional 
 immunities of foreign states, to grant jurisdiction to the courts of 
 the United States in certain cases involving torture or extrajudicial 
                    killing occurring in that state.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 17, 1993

 Mr. Mazzoli introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 28, United States Code, relating to jurisdictional 
 immunities of foreign states, to grant jurisdiction to the courts of 
 the United States in certain cases involving torture or extrajudicial 
                    killing occurring in that state.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EXCEPTION TO FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN CASES 
              INVOLVING TORTURE OR EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING IN A FOREIGN 
              STATE.

    Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (5);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and 
        inserting in lieu thereof ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(7) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph (2), in which 
        money damages are sought against a foreign state for personal 
        injury or death of a United States citizen occurring in such 
        foreign state and caused by the torture or extrajudicial 
        killing of that citizen by such foreign state or by any 
        official or employee of such foreign state while acting within 
        the scope of his or her office or employment, except that--
                    ``(A) the court shall decline to hear a claim under 
                this paragraph if the claimant has not exhausted 
                adequate and available remedies in the place in which 
                the conduct giving rise to the claim occurred; and
                    ``(B) an action under this paragraph shall not be 
                maintained unless it is commenced within 10 years after 
                the cause of action accrues.
For purposes of paragraph (7), the terms `torture' and `extrajudicial 
killing' have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the 
Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO IMMUNITY FROM ATTACHMENT.

    (a) Foreign State.--Section 1610(a) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and 
        inserting in lieu thereof ``, or''; and
            (2) by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(7) the judgment relates to a claim for which the foreign 
        state is not immune by virtue of section 1605(a)(7) of this 
        chapter, regardless of whether the property is or was involved 
        in the act upon which the claim is based.''.
    (b) Agency or Instrumentality.--Section 1610(b)(2) of such title is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``or (5)'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``(5), or (7)''; and
            (2) by striking ``used for the activity'' and inserting in 
        lieu thereof ``involved in the act''.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any cause of action 
arising before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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