Garland says DOJ is investigating potential war crimes in Ukraine

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that the Justice Department is working with its European and Ukrainian counterparts to collect evidence regarding possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

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MERRICK GARLAND: Finally, I cannot close without acknowledging the horrible images that all of us have seen coming out of Ukraine, particularly from Bucha this week. We have seen the dead bodies of civilians, some with bound hands, scattered in the streets. We have seen the mass graves. We have seen the bombed hospital, theater, and residential apartment buildings.

The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The Justice Department sees what is happening in Ukraine. This department has a long history of helping to hold accountable those who perpetrate war crimes. One of my predecessors, Attorney General Robert Jackson, later served as a chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

Today, we are assisting international efforts to identify and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine. And we will continue to do so.

- Mr. Attorney General, you said the justice department has a long history of holding those accountable who commit war crimes. What role for the Justice Department do you contemplate in Ukraine?

MERRICK GARLAND: Yesterday, I personally spoke with our chief Justice Department prosecutor in Paris who was meeting with the French war crimes prosecutor. The day before, criminal division prosecutors met with prosecutors from Eurojust and Europol to work out a plan for gathering evidence with respect to Ukraine.

And at the same time, the United States is, at the request of the Ukrainian prosecutor, assisting in the collection of information with respect to the atrocities that took place in Ukraine and that are still taking place.