[JURIST] A US judge sentenced Bosnian immigrant Marko Boskic to 63 months in prison Monday for failing to reveal his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [PBS backgrounder; JURIST news archive] while trying to enter the US as a refugee. Boskic was charged [JURIST report] in August 2004 with five counts of making false declarations on US immigration applications and in an interview with federal agents. He pleaded not guilty [JURIST report], claiming he had been held in a Serbian prison camp and threatened with a gun to his head if he did not take part in the killings, but was convicted [JURIST report] in July on two counts of concealing his military record.

Boskic's lawyer had urged a lighter sentence, but US District Judge Douglas Woodlock said he considered Boskic's role in the Srebrenica massacre when determining the sentence. Under federal sentencing guidelines [USSC materials], judges may factor in a defendant's prior criminal history. Boskic will likely be deported to Bosnia-Herzegovina [JURIST news archive] after he serves his sentence, where he could be tried for war crimes. AP has more.