A Tucson man who came to the U.S. decades ago as a Bosnian refugee has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for visa fraud and illegally trying to become a citizen.
Federal prosecutors say the 50-year-old is really a Bosnian war criminal.
Prosecutors also say Sinisa Djurdjic was a member of a police brigade, military units and a prison guard at camps set up by Bosnian Serbs who believed in ethnic cleansing of Muslims.
U.S. Attorney for Arizona Gary Restaino said one victim who testified during the trial was a journalist.
“And he talked about the fact that defendant Djurdjic was present in many occasions when he was beaten, when he was denied food, when there was labor forced by him,” Restaino said.
Defense records say Djurdjic was never on active duty during the second half of 1992, when the alleged abuses took place. And that Muslim forces abused Djurdjic as a prisoner of war.
