US appoints top 'Nazi hunter' to head DOJ team investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine

In response to Russian atrocities, the United States has appointed Eli Rosenbaum, the former director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations that was responsible for identifying and deporting Nazi war criminals, to investigate and prosecute those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, said Merrick Garland, US Attorney General. Rosenbaum is known as 'Nazi hunter' as he was engaged in the search and deportaion of Nazi war criminals.  

The team was put together by the US Justice Department (DOJ) to probe war crime reports, including human rights abuses, Garland said during his surprise visit to Kyiv. "There is no hiding place for war criminals. The US Justice Department will pursue every avenue of accountability for those who committed war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine," Garland stressed, as reported by CNN.

The move is a clear indication that the DOJ is interested in looking for accountability for the brutalities committed in Ukraine. "Working alongside our domestic and international partners, Justice Department will be relentless in efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crime, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine," Garland said, as quoted by CNN.

Who is Eli Rosenbaum?

Born on May 8, 1955, Eli Rosenbaum is a former director of the US Department of Justice Special Investigation Team (OSI). According to the Federalist Society, Rosenbaum graduated from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's degree in science and an MBA in Finance. He also went to Harvard Law School. A Jewish-American by birth, Rosenbaum and his team were vested with the task of identification, denaturalisation, and deportation of Nazi war criminals between 1994 to 2010.

It is pertinent to understand that the OSI was created by the then US Attorney General in order to investigate and prosecute Nazi criminals in the post-World War II era. Under his leadership, OSI perform crucial work for Federal government inter-agency efforts to trace significant artifacts looted by Nazis from Holocaust victims. In March 2010, the OSI was merged with the Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section and he was named director of the new unit, the Federalist Society says.

Over 15,000 suspected war crimes reported in Ukraine

Amid the growing intensity of the Russian war, Ukraine has reportedly recorded over 15,000 suspected cases of war crimes. About 200 to 300 cases are logged daily, said Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova. Speaking to reporters at The Hague on May 21, she said some 600 suspects have been identified so far and over 80 prosecutions have also begun. On May 23, a court in Ukraine delivered the verdict on the first war crime trial against 21-year-old Russian soldier Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin. He was given life imprisonment for the brutal murder of an unarmed civilian in a northeastern village of Chupakhivka.

Apart from this, two Russian soldiers have also been sentenced to 11 years in prison for shelling civilian infestation. Moscow, however, has repeatedly denied such allegations, further accusing Kyiv of "staging" the atrocities. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also joined the efforts of Ukraine and dispatched the largest team to probe possible war crimes and hold the perpetrators responsible. Meanwhile, EU countries like Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Slovakia have also extended help to Ukraine to investigate the alleged war crimes.

(Image: AP)