The United States has launched a civil legal effort to remove the citizenship of a man accused of concealing his involvement in crimes committed during the Bosnian war, citing serious violations that should have barred him from entering the country as a citizen.
Kemal Mrndzic is accused of failing to inform US immigration authorities that he had served as a guard at Celebici prison camp in Bosnia, a place where prisoners suffered torture, killings, sexual assault, and other inhumane treatment, the justice department said.
Officials said he did not reveal the full scope or timing of his military duties, nor that “he persecuted Bosnian-Serb inmates as a prison guard.”
A United Nations tribunal on war crimes had previously determined that inmates in the camp endured killings, beatings, sexual abuse, and cruel treatment during the conflict.
In October 2024, a US jury found Mrndzic guilty on multiple charges of fraud and misrepresentation linked to his application for a US passport and naturalisation certificate. Prosecutors say he gave false or incomplete information throughout the immigration process.
Justice department official Brett Shumate stated that the administration of President Donald Trump would not allow those who “persecute others” to “reap the benefits of refuge in the US.” He added that the case highlights the value placed on “the integrity of its naturalisation process” by US authorities.
Mrndzic received a prison sentence of over five years in January 2025. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement also released a series of photos showing his life from 1992 to 2019, reflecting the period covering the Bosnian war to his later years in the US.
The Bosnian war broke out following the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, leading to widespread conflict and atrocities.
Among the worst was the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, which the United Nations officially recognized as genocide, after Bosnian-Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
The Celebici camp, managed by Bosniak and Bosnian-Croat forces, was also tied to killings in the territories under their control.
The atrocities prompted international war crimes trials, including that of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, and paved the way for the US-mediated Dayton Peace Agreement signed on 14 December 1995, which ended the war.
