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In the meantime, ODonnell and Burke continued their investigation. They believed that interviews with Roggios former employeeslargely Estonians, but also other Europeans whod been handpicked by his special assistantcould help strengthen the case. And that gut feeling proved right.

When the duo learned that a former female employee of Roggiosan Estonian citizenwas slated to travel through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, they worked with Estonias Internal Security Service to interview her about her experience with Roggio. The woman turned out to be the first international employee of Roggios weapons facility. She shared enough information with ODonnell and Burke to justify a trip to Estonia to conduct a more in-depth interview with her in a friendlier setting.

Investigators hoped that the interview could help them put the finishing touches on their counterproliferation investigation. But that trip yielded more than just a follow-up conversation.

It also gave investigators the chance to meet a second former weapons factory employee, who surprised the investigators with a six-year-old cellphone recording that captured Roggio making threats of torture, confessing to that and other crimes, and even speaking to motive.

This was the first time theyd heard torture allegations concerning Roggio.

After interviewing these and other former employees, investigators returned to the U.S. with a case, having identified a new and urgent objective: to seek guidance and expertise from the FBIs International Human Rights Unit to seek a potential prosecution for torture violations.

The FBI is responsible for investigating torture if the victim is a U.S. person, or if the perpetuator is either a U.S. person or if theyre physically located within our countrys borders. This jurisdiction comes from 18 USC, Section 2340A.

The agents knew they had to act quicklyand carefully.

Careful collaboration between the case team, the FBIs International Human Rights Unit (part of our Criminal Investigative Division), federal victim services providers, multiple FBI legal attach offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and our Estonian law enforcement partners enabled the case team to travel to Estonia to conduct forensic interviews with these subjects.

The investigators got the greenlight to take a joint trip with DOJ prosecutors to explore the matter of torture in great detail. The investigative team leveraged their agencies resources and connections, as well as international partnerships, to locate and interview multiple former employees of Roggios who may have witnessed or been victims of torture.

FBI Supervisory Child-Adolescent Forensic Interviewer Jacqueline Goldsteinwho, at the time, held a similar role at HSIhelped ensure these conversations were cognizant of the trauma that these peoples experiences with Roggio may have left them with, while still being admissible in court and supporting investigative needs.

Its designed to pass judicial scrutiny, she said. So its non-leading, non-suggestive. But its also trauma-informed so that the investigative interviewing process is uniquely suited to the developmental, cognitive, clinical needs of that individual, and we're not creating additional trauma in that investigative process.

And with that, in August 2021, investigators were finally able to interview Roggios victim: a man whod been held in captivity and subjected to physical and mental tortureincluding physical beatings, suffocation, and chokingfor more than a month.

He had very vivid recollection, ODonnell said. Some people blacked out everything. This guy remembered every detail of a lot of what happened.

Law enforcement also captured statements from a wider group of former employees whod been forced to witness Roggios brutality against the victim. They also convinced the witnesses to travel to the United States to testify against Roggio in federal court.

As a result of these efforts, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in 2022which added a charge of torture and a charge of conspiracy to commit torture to Roggios already long list of alleged crimesand he was again arrested.

Original post:
Investigating Torture: FBI-HSI Investigation Leads to U.S. Citizen's Conviction for Human Rights Violations in Iraq FBI - Federal Bureau of...

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