Bush Signs Genocide Bill

President Bush has signed the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007. As I noted last month, the Act provides for conditional universal jurisdiction over the crime of genocide. 18 USC sec. 1091 previously provided as follows:

(a) Basic Offense.— Whoever, whether in time of peace or in time of war, in a circumstance described in subsection (d) and with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such—
(1) kills members of that group;
(2) causes serious bodily injury to members of that group;
(3) causes the permanent impairment of the mental faculties of members of the group through drugs, torture, or similar techniques;
(4) subjects the group to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group in whole or in part;
(5) imposes measures intended to prevent births within the group; or
(6) transfers by force children of the group to another group;
or attempts to do so, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

(b) Punishment for Basic Offense.— The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) is—
(1) in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1), where death results, by death or imprisonment for life and a fine of not more than $1,000,000, or both; and
(2) a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both, in any other case.

(c) Incitement Offense.— Whoever in a circumstance described in subsection (d) directly and publicly incites another to violate subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $500,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(d) Required Circumstance for Offenses.— The circumstance referred to in subsections (a) and (c) is that—
(1) the offense is committed within the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is a national of the United States (as defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)).

(e) Nonapplicability of Certain Limitations.— Notwithstanding section 3282 of this title, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1), an indictment may be found, or information instituted, at any time without limitation.

The Genocide Accountability Act replaces sec. 1091(d) with the following:

(d) REQUIRED CIRCUMSTANCE FOR OFFENSES.—The circumstance referred to in subsections (a) and (c) is that—
(1) the offense is committed in whole or in part within
the United States;
(2) the alleged offender is a national of the United States
(as that term is defined in section 101 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101));
(3) the alleged offender is an alien lawfully admitted for
permanent residence in the United States (as that term is
defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1101));
(4) the alleged offender is a stateless person whose
habitual residence is in the United States; or
(5) after the conduct required for the offense occurs, the
alleged offender is brought into, or found in, the United States,
even if that conduct occurred outside the United States.

The change is important, because — as Diane Orentlicher pointed out in her testimony before the House and Senate in support of the Act — under the previous version of the law accused genocidaires found in the U.S. could only be deported or charged with lesser crimes such as visa fraud. Orentlicher cited the example of Ratko Maslenjak, a member of a Serb military unit connected to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, who was convicted of lying about his service in Srebrenica when he applied for his green card.