DOJ Seeks to Revoke Citizenship of Man Charged with War Crimes
On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated a civil lawsuit to revoke the citizenship of Sead Miljkovic, who is facing allegations related to war crimes in Bosnia.
Miljkovic allegedly provided false details to immigration officials during his naturalization process in 2007. The Ministry of Justice states that he was a part of the security forces in the Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia (APZB) and is the target of an arrest warrant issued by a Bosnian court due to war crimes involving civilians at the time he gained citizenship.
Furthermore, the DOJ claims that Miljkovic, who also went by the surname Dukic, obscured his identity by failing to disclose that he had used various names on different applications, provided multiple birth dates and places, listed numerous fathers, and named different women as wives.
“This administration will not permit foreign nationals to enter the country, conceal their past, and acquire U.S. citizenship,” stated Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate from the DOJ’s Civil Division. “It may take time, but if we find you, we will act.”
The arrest warrant against Miljkovic was issued in 2007, leading to an Interpol red notice. He and his associates from the APZB allegedly wielded wooden bats to beat over a dozen civilians and detained them “in a morgue for five days without light or water,” as reported by the Justice Department.
Miljkovic was found not guilty of torture in a Tennessee court in May, with his legal team citing the statute of limitations since the alleged torture events took place almost three decades ago. However, as noted by the Ministry of Justice, he has yet to appear in a Bosnian court regarding these charges.
The civil lawsuit seeking the revocation of citizenship follows an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations. Miljkovic’s case is being handled by the Aggressive Litigation Division of the DOJ’s Immigration Litigation Division, with support from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
