Bill Nelson: “Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon and I are introducing the World War II Accountability Act, which seeks to compel foreign…”

“Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon and I are introducing the World War II Accountability Act, which seeks to compel foreign governments harboring Nazi war criminals to prosecute and extradite those individuals. It is a sad truth that more than 60 years after World War II some countries continue to provide safe haven for these war criminals. Bringing these surviving Nazis to justice is a time-sensitive affair, and one that can bring much needed peace to those remaining holocaust survivors who have already suffered so much. In the United States, the Office of Special Investigations, OSI, of the Department of Justice is responsible for detecting, investigating and taking legal action to denaturalize or deport persons who took part in Nazi sponsored acts of persecution committed between 1933 and 1945. As of August 2005, OSI had successfully prosecuted 100 persons involved in Nazi war crimes who were residing in the U.S. Nongovernmental organizations are also integral to these detection and investigation efforts.”