Federal judge orders Bosnian war crimes suspect to be deported News
Federal judge orders Bosnian war crimes suspect to be deported

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Minnesota [official website] on Thursday ordered a Bosnian man to be deported after he pleaded guilty to lying on immigration forms about his criminal history during the Bosnian war. Zdenko Jekisa [ICE press release] has resided in the US for 18 years and has been a lawful permanent resident for 14. In 2015 he was arrested and charged for falsifying his applications to enter the country and obtain his green card. Jekisa was convicted in Bosnia for shooting and killing his elderly neighbor. He also has a criminal record in the US. Bosnian authorities have expressed their intent to investigate possible war crimes committed by Jekisa.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] and the Balkan States continue to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. Serbian prosecutors charged [JURIST report] former Bosnian Army general Naser Oric in August with war crimes against prisoners of war in 1992 for crimes allegedly committed in the same village. He was accused of killing of killing of three Bosnian Serb prisoners of war. Oric has pleaded [JURIST report] not guilty. In April the prosecutor’s office indicted [JURIST report] 10 former Bosnian-Serb soldiers for war crimes committed during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. Also in April Bosnian prosecutors indicted three men [JURIST report] for crimes committed against more than 300 Serb civilians between April 1992 and July 1993.