Best-Known 'Nazi Hunter' To lead U.S. Team to Uncover Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack on Tuesday made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian-Poland border to meet with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova to discuss the prosecution of war crimes in the Russian invasion.

While there, Garland announced the creation of a “War Crimes Accountability Team” to centralize the department’s work in holding accountable those who have committed war crimes, the Justice Department said in a press release.

The new team will be led by the Justice Department's best-known Nazi Hunter Eli Rosenbaum, and will be made up of experts in investigations involving human rights abuses and war crimes, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Rosenbaum, a veteran of the Justice Department, previously served as the director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy, and helped the department over 100 cases to strip citizenship from or deport accused Nazis.

“There is no hiding place for war criminals. The US Justice Department will pursue every avenue of accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” Garland said in Ukraine.

“Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine.”

State Department's Ned Price told reporters that Garland and Schaack will go to Paris, where they will join the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and other U.S. officials for meetings of the U.S.-EU Ministerial Meeting on Justice and Home Affairs.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.