Four members of Russian forces in Ukraine have been charged in the US with war crimes against an American citizen, judicial authorities announced Wednesday, marking the first prosecution under US war crimes law since 1996, France Presse and Agerpres reported.

“The Department of Justice has launched the first criminal prosecutions under US war crimes law against four members of the military with ties to Russia for heinous crimes against an American citizen,” Secretary Merrick Garland said.

He spoke at a joint press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray.

According to the 9-page indictment released on Tuesday, the incriminated actions, including torture and inhumane treatment, took place in April 2022 in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Four members of Russian or pro-Moscow separatist forces, two of whom were given only their first names, abducted an unidentified civilian (with American citizenship) from the village of Milove and held him for ten days, according to the same sources. .

During the detention, the four defendants subjected the American citizen to interrogations, “torture, threats of sexual violence and execution” until the execution was staged, Garland said.

They are accused of three war crimes: illegal detention, torture and inhuman treatment, and could face up to life in prison if caught by the US.

Agents of the US Department of Homeland Security traveled in August 2022 “to speak with a US citizen who was recently deported from Ukraine, where he lived with his wife,” Mayorkas explained, without specifying which country she was taken to for the testimony.

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