[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1968-S1969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     War Crimes Accountability Act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Europe has seen its share of horrors over 
the last century: the atrocities of World War I, World War II, as well 
as the Bosnian war. Ukrainians, in particular, suffered under the rule 
of Joseph Stalin. During the tragedy known as Holodomor, millions of 
Ukrainians died of starvation--forced starvation.
  In the wake of some--but not all--of these atrocities, the world 
responded by bringing the perpetrators to justice. After World War II, 
of course, there were the Nuremberg trials; and after the Bosnian war, 
President Milosevic was charged with crimes against humanity by an 
international criminal tribunal.
  Sadly, now, in 2022, we are faced with the question: How will the 
world react to the crimes that are now being committed in Ukraine?
  Over the past week, we have witnessed the reality of Vladimir Putin's 
genocidal rampage on the innocent people of Ukraine, and the scenes of 
brutality in Bucha are seared in our collective memory.
  Today, in Bucha, Ukraine, there are mass graves surrounded by bodies 
hastily shoved into garbage bags, civilian cars crushed like tin cans, 
and front yards and gardens lined with the dead bodies of innocent 
Ukrainian people.
  One survivor, Antonina Pomazanko, aged 76, watched helplessly as 
Russian soldiers murdered her daughter, Tetiana. Without provocation, 
the Russian soldiers opened fire on her home, and the bullets ripped 
through the gates and fence as Tetiana was standing in the yard. She 
was killed in an instant.
  On Sunday, the New York Times ran a photo of Mrs. Pomazanko looking 
over her daughter's dead body. Mrs. Pomazanko had covered it with 
plastic sheets and wooden boards. It was lying in the same spot where 
she was killed last month.
  In the words of Mrs. Pomazanko:

       There was so much shelling, I did not know what to do.

  There is nothing that will fill the void of loss and despair that 
Mrs. Pomazanko and millions of Ukrainians feel at this very moment, but 
there is more--much, much more--that we, as Americans, must do.
  The actions of Vladimir Putin harken back to some of Europe's darkest 
days--the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, the 
massacres of the former Yugoslavia--days that we must endure and days 
which we hope we never have to relive. And as I mentioned, after the 
Allied Forces liberated Europe in 1945, the world responded. It came 
together at the historic Nuremberg trials.
  When the trials first convened at the Palace of Justice on November 
21, 1945, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson delivered the opening 
statement.
  He said:

       The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so 
     calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that 
     civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it 
     cannot survive their being repeated.

  ``Civilization cannot tolerate'' and ``cannot survive'' the war 
crimes we have witnessed in Ukraine going unpunished.
  President Biden recognized that fact on Monday in his calling for a 
war crime trial for the horrors in Ukraine.
  President Lincoln once said to Congress when he proposed an end to 
slavery:

       We--even we here--hold the power, and bear the 
     responsibility.

  It is within the power and the responsibility of this body to deny 
safe haven in America or anywhere to perpetrators of these heinous 
crimes.
  Under existing law, foreign war criminals who come to the United 
States, incredibly, cannot be prosecuted. They cannot be held liable in 
a civil action or even be deported for their heinous crimes. Currently, 
the War Crimes Act only applies if the perpetrator or victim is a 
U.S. servicemember or a U.S. national. In other words, it would not 
cover the Russian officials who are responsible for the commission of 
war crimes in Ukraine nor cover the Russian soldiers who committed 
those crimes.

  We also don't have a statute or a law in America making crimes 
against humanity a violation of U.S. law. This was the primary offense 
prosecuted in Nuremberg, and it was a critical tool for holding 
violators accountable.

[[Page S1969]]

  Other grave human rights violations, including genocide and torture, 
are already crimes under U.S. law that cover any offender found in the 
United States. This should also be true for war crimes and crimes 
against humanity, and that is why I will introduce the War Crimes 
Accountability Act.
  The War Crimes Accountability Act will ensure the United States has 
the tools to hold accountable the perpetrators of war crimes and other 
atrocities. The bill expands the War Crimes Act to cover all war 
criminals who are in the United States, regardless of where they are 
from. It fills the gap in our criminal code for prosecuting crimes 
against humanity so that we can hold perpetrators who come to this 
country accountable.
  This is not just a hypothetical idea. Consider one example: After the 
massacre of thousands of innocent men and boys in the Srebrenica 
massacre, a war criminal named Marko Boskic made his way to the United 
States. When law enforcement tracked him down, they could only charge 
him with visa fraud, not a war crime or crimes against humanity. We 
must bring war criminals to justice for their horrific crimes, not slap 
them on the wrist with a visa technicality.
  The United States must never again provide safe haven for 
perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Our Nation led 
the first prosecutions for crimes in the Nuremberg trials. It is time 
for the United States to lead again.
  Ultimately, the day will come when Vladimir Putin faces justice, and 
his name and his regime will be remembered in history alongside the 
worst of the worst. Until Putin and his sycophants are brought to 
justice, we cannot waver--we cannot equivocate--in providing Ukraine 
with all the resources, weapons, and aid they need to triumph over 
Russia.
  Quite simply, the United States of America should never be a safe 
haven for a war criminal. The United States of America should be 
holding war criminals responsible for their horrible conduct and what 
they have done to the poor and innocent people in other places, and 
they should be held liable on criminal and civil bases. That is what 
this bill would do. It is an effort to move forward with the cause of 
justice, but I hope it is only the beginning.
  When nations around the world adopt similar laws to the ones which I 
am proposing, we will make it clear that there are no safe havens left 
for war criminals. They will pay a price wherever they end up, and that 
is the way it should be if there is going to be justice.
  ``Slava Ukraini.''
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.