A Loganville man who allegedly worked as a Serbian concentration camp guard faces federal charges that he became a naturalized U.S. citizen through fraud.
Mladen Mitrovic, 52, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday.
Mitrovic, a Bosnian native, applied to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen on Oct. 3, 2002. In his naturalization application, Mitrovic allegedly failed to disclose that as a guard at a Serbian concentration camp during the Bosnian War, he persecuted people because of their religion, national origin and membership in a particular social group, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a news release.
Homeland Security investigators in Atlanta, working on a tip from agents in Portland, Ore., identified Mitrovic as a potential human rights violator responsible for the alleged abuse and torture of Muslims and Catholics at the Trnopolje Concentration Camp, authorities said.
“The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to work with officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina to locate concentration camp guards who emigrated under false pretenses to the United States after the Bosnian War,” Yates said. “This defendant will now have to face many of the former Bosnian Muslim prisoners who suffered at his hand in the Trnopolje Concentration Camp.”
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and automatic deportation upon the completion of a sentence of imprisonment. Mitrovic was released on bond Monday.
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 toll-free HSI tip line, 866-DHS-2-ICE, or to complete its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
To learn more about the assistance available to victims in these cases, the public should contact ICE’s confidential victim-witness toll-free number, 866-872-4973. Tips can be provided anonymously.
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