Group: U.S. A Safe Haven For Torturers

At least 150 suspected torturers who committed crimes around the world are reported to be living in the United States and the number may be far higher, the U.S. branch of Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The organization urged the federal government to begin prosecuting these persons, saying the United States should not become a sanctuary for human rights abusers. A law passed eight years ago makes such trials possible, the group said.

"The United States has become a safe haven for torturers," said William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "The U.S. government has never prosecuted any of them for torture and that is outrageous and indefensible."

He said that by the government's own admission as many as 1,000 human rights criminals may be living in the United States. He said the Immigration and Naturalization Service has investigated 400 such cases.

Amnesty International's 174-page review "United States of America: Safe Haven for Torturers" said its research shows that nearly 150 suspected torturers are known to be living in the United States.

At a news conference to introduce the review, Schulz told the story of Kemal Mehinovic, a Bosnian Muslim who was taken into custody in 1992, beaten with metal pipes and shot at in torture that continued for 2 1/2 years.

Mehinovic believed one of his torturers was a Bosnian Serb soldier named Nikola Vukovic, Schulz said. Mehinovic was released in a prisoner exchange in 1994 and came to the United States a year later.

"In 1998 he learned that Vukovic also settled here and he and three other Bosnians filed a civil complaint against them," Schulz said. "A trial was held last year but neither Vukovic nor his attorney bothered to show up. A final ruling is pending."

The report names 12 other individuals who entered or lived in the United States despite allegations that they committed torture and other human rights violations in Cuba, Somalia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Bosnia, Haiti, Honduras and Chile.

"When perpetrators of torture walk the streets with impunity, it is not only their victims who suffer, it is an affront to all humanity," the report said.

Amnesty International called on the Bush administration to demonstrate a commitment to the prosecution of torturers and human rights abusers living in or traveling to the United States by providing funding for an office within the Justice Department with that responsibility.