WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is urging Congress to give Justice Department prosecutors broader authority to prosecute Russians for crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Ukraine, particularly crimes involving the removal of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Although Secretary of State Antony Blinken in February declared that “members of Russia’s forces and other Russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine,” federal prosecutors do not have the legal authority to pursue such cases.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco urged the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to enact a “crimes against humanity” statute.
“It is unthinkable, it’s almost unimaginable, but yet we know it’s occurring – the forcible removal, the disappearing of children from Ukraine by Russian forces,” Monaco told senators. “We are doing everything we can within the tools that we have – (using) the war crimes investigators.…But the single thing I think that this Congress could do to help us more would be to pass a crimes against humanity statute.”
Such a law would allow the Justice Department to prosecute individuals for “widespread, systematic attacks that are politically motivated against a civilian population, in this case, children.”
“We need the capability and the authority to bring those crimes against humanity…because that’s what it is, it is crimes against humanity – the most atrocious, heinous type of crime that can be committed,” Monaco said.
The chairman of the judiciary panel, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said Congress needed to address gaps in the law that would hamstring U.S. prosecutors from bringing international criminals to justice.
“We must enact a crimes against humanity statute,” Durbin said.
The Ukraine government recently estimated that 19,500 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia.
Monaco said that the Justice Department’s ability to investigate these acts has been aided by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to gather information on foreign individuals outside of the United States through electronic communications.
Such capability is an “absolutely indispensable national security tool,” Monaco said.
“When it comes to this conflict and what Russia is doing in Ukraine, it has proved vitally important,” she said. “Indeed, 702 has helped us uncover gruesome atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine, including the murder of noncombatants, the forced relocation of children from Russian-occupied Ukraine to Russia and the detention of refugees fleeing violence by Russian personnel.”
Section 702 will expire at the end of 2023 unless reauthorized by Congress.
Durbin said he had opposed Section 702 in the past but was open to its renewal if constitutional safeguards of Americans can be protected.
After the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Durbin and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Grassley of Iowa won passage of the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act to charge war criminals within the United States regardless of nationality.
“Now is the time to stand by Ukraine, not just on the battlefield but also in the courtroom,” Graham said.
The International Criminal Court on March 17 issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, charging them with war crimes for the removal of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Monaco told Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, that the warrants are a significant step to address the atrocities.
Prosecutors from the DOJ will go wherever it takes to gather evidence and find perpetrators of war crimes, she said.
“War criminals, including those from the current atrocities perpetrated in Ukraine, will not find safe haven in the United States,” Monaco said.