WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2021) US Department of Justice (DOJ) refused to comment on American national Craig Lang's case until he is extradited from Ukraine, DOJ spokesperson Nicole Navas Oxman told Sputnik on Thursday.
BuzzFeed reported in October that the DOJ and FBI have started an investigation into a group of seven American fighters, including Lang, under the Federal war crimes statute. US authorities suspect that, while fighting in Eastern Ukraine, they took non-combatants as prisoners and tortured them, including waterboarding. The DOJ also believes that Lang killed several of his victims before burning them, the report added.
"As a matter of policy, the US Department of Justice generally does not comment on extradition-related matters until a defendant is in the United States," Navas Oxman said.
The FBI did not return Sputnik's request for comment.
Lang, a former US Army soldier, allegedly came to Ukraine to join the Right Sector extremist group (banned in Russia) according to media reports. As the United States wants him concerning his role in a double murder in the state of Florida, he pleaded with Ukrainian judges to allow him to stay in the country.
In the United States, Lang, 31, and his co-conspirator Alex Zwiefelhofer, 23, have been charged with killing a couple and stealing $3,000 from them in April 2018 in the state of Florida. He was arrested by Ukrainian authorities in 2019 after Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest.
