The United States Department of Justice has initiated a civil lawsuit aimed at revoking the citizenship of a man accused of being a Bosnian war criminal.
Kemal Mrndzic allegedly failed to disclose his service as a guard at the Celebici prison camp in Bosnia, a site notorious for atrocities, during his US immigration proceedings, according to the Justice Department.
A United Nations war crimes tribunal previously found that detainees at the camp during the Bosnian War were subjected to murder, torture, sexual assault, beatings, and other forms of inhumane treatment.
Brett Shumate, a Justice Department official, stated that the Trump administration would not permit those who “persecute others” to “reap the benefits of refuge in the US.”
The assistant attorney general further emphasized that the legal action underscores the US government’s commitment to “the integrity of its naturalization process.”
In October 2024, a jury convicted Mrndzic on multiple counts of criminal fraud and misrepresentation related to his successful application for a US passport and naturalization certificate.
The Justice Department stated that he failed to disclose to immigration authorities the nature and duration of his military service, as well as the fact that “he persecuted Bosnian-Serb inmates as a prison guard.”
Mrndzic was sentenced to more than five years in prison in January 2025.
The Bosnian War, which followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, culminated in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995.
Srebrenica, recognized by the UN as a genocide, became synonymous with Europe’s worst mass atrocity since World War II, after Bosnian-Serb forces systematically murdered over 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys.
The Celebici prison camp was operated by Bosniak and Bosnian-Croat forces, who were also responsible for widespread killings in areas under their control.
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic faced trial for war crimes and genocide, and the massacre ultimately led to the US-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement on December 14, 1995.
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