HSI Tucson case sends Bosnian war criminal to 70 months in federal prison

TUCSON, Ariz. — An Arizona resident was sentenced by a federal judge Nov. 29 to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for visa fraud and two separate counts of attempted unlawful procurement of U.S. citizenship. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

Sinisa Djurdjic, 50, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was found guilty by a jury on May 19 after a nine-day trial.

Djurdjic emigrated to Tucson in 2000. Nine years later, special agents with HSI launched an investigation after receiving a roster of a Bosnian Serb police brigade suspected of various wartime atrocities during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995. Djurdjic was listed as a member of the brigade. The multiyear international investigation and the evidence presented at trial showed that Djurdjic was indeed a member of that police brigade and other Bosnian Serb military units. Specifically, he was a prison guard at two separate prison camps north of Sarajevo early in the war. Both prison camps were established by the breakaway Republika Srpska entity which used brutal, persecutory violence to kill or expel all non-Serbs from the area of Bosnia the Serbs wished to control.

During the trial, five Bosniaks who were held at the prison camps testified that, as a prison guard, Djurdjic tortured prisoners in his custody for several months in 1992. At trial, extensive evidence demonstrated that Djurdjic obtained immigration status in the United States for two decades by lying about his prior military and police service. His lies prevented immigration authorities from making a fully informed decision regarding his applications for immigration benefits. As a result, Djurdjic secured a safe haven for himself in the United States to which he was not entitled and thereby escaped justice for his war crimes in Bosnia for over 30 years.

“Our lives were ruined by people like Sinisa, but we managed to rebuild them and his conviction is one of the final bricks in our house of peace,” said one of the victims in his statement to the court.

At sentencing, the judge found by clear and convincing evidence that Djurdjic committed the offenses to conceal his torture of prisoners of war as a prison guard in Bosnia and that he concealed his war crimes from immigration authorities.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona in Tucson handled the prosecution.

This case was supported by the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) and HSI Tucson. Established in 2008, the HRVWCC furthers HSI’s efforts to identify, locate and prosecute human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. The HRVWCC leverages the expertise of a select group of agents, lawyers, intelligence and research specialists, historians, and analysts who direct the agency’s broader enforcement efforts against these offenders. Currently, HSI has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,700 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, HSI has arrested more than 510 individuals for human rights-related violations of the law under various criminal and immigration statutes.

Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the HSI tip line at 866-347-2423. Callers may remain anonymous. They can also email HRV.ICE@ice.dhs.gov.