CONGRESSMEN BERMAN AND PENCE PROPOSE A BILL ON GENOCIDE RESPONSIBILITY
Noyan Tapan
Jun 02 2007
WASHINGTON, JUNE 2, NOYAN TAPAN.- ARMENIANS TODAY. Last week
Congressmen Howard L. Berman and Mike Pence submitted a bill on
genocide Responsibility to the U.S. House of Representatives for
consideration, reports the Armenian Assembly of America. The bill
envisages punishment for committing genocide beyond the borders of
the U.S.
"This bill is too necessary for the U.S. to be able to inflict those
to legal liability who committed these awful crimes in the case when
they are not prosecuted anywhere else", declared Berman.
According to the U.S. law in force, genocide is only qualified as a
crime if it is committed only in the U.S. territory or by an American
citizen beyond the borders of the country. Though the U.S. Ministry of
Justice has found out the indentity of certain people, having committed
the genocides of Rwanda and Bosnia, who live in the U.S., it’s beyond
its jurisdiction to interrogate and charge them with a crime.
"The fact that we know who those people are and where, does not allow
us to subject them to legal liability. It is unjust towards all those
who have suffered from genocide. This bill should be endorsed as
soon as possible in order to become the necessary tool in the hands
of the Ministry of Justice", said Berman.
Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America,
expressed his gratitude to Congressmen Berman and Pence for proposing
such a bill which will give the U.S. an opportunity to fight against
genocide and bring an end to it.
To recap, a bill of this kind was submitted for consideration to
the Senate by Senators Richard Darbin, Tom Kobern, Patrick Lih,
John Kornin and Rass Feingold which was unanimously passed in March.