First, must the United States prosecute its own citizens? According to the International Convention on Torture, which the United States has ratified, the federal authorities are obligated to conduct “a prompt and impartial investigation.”

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, said in a statement on Wednesday that while he welcomed the release of the Senate report, he hoped it would lead to accountability of those who ordered, enabled, or carried out torture. “The convention lets no one off the hook — neither the torturers themselves, nor the policy-makers, nor the public officials who define the policy or give the orders.”

Second, can the International Criminal Court prosecute these cases?

In principle, yes, though the prospects of a prosecution, experts say, are exceedingly slim and a political hot potato. Even though the United States has not signed the treaty that created the tribunal, the court can prosecute the most serious crimes in countries that have signed it, like Afghanistan, where some of the torture was said to have occurred.

Indeed, in early December, the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, for the first time confirmed that she was “assessing available information” on the American military’s “enhanced interrogation techniques.”