The Department of Justice has made its first-ever use of a decades-old war crimes statute to charge four Russia-aligned soldiers with atrocities against an American living in Ukraine in April 2022 during Russia’s war on Ukraine, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington at Justice Department headquarters, Mr Garland said the charges are being brought under the War Crimes Act, a statute enacted in 1996 that gives federal prosecutors jurisdiction over alleged war crimes committed against US nationals abroad.
