SENATE PASSES THE GENOCIDE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

ArmRadio.am
30.03.2007 16:00

The US Senate passed the legislation S.888, closing a legal loophole
that prevents the US Justice Department from prosecuting people in
the United States who have committed genocide in other countries,
reports the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The measure, known as the Genocide Accountability Act, was approved
only two weeks after its introduction on March 15th by Assistant
Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), the lead author of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution, along with Tom Coburn (R-OK), Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), and John Coburn (R-TX).

Under current law, "genocide is only considered a crime if it is
committed within the United States or by a US national outside the
United States". The Genocide Accountability Act would close the
current loophole by amending the Genocide Convention Implementation
Act to allow prosecution of non-US citizens for genocide committed
outside the US.