BOSTON — A Swampscott man was convicted Oct. 18 following a two-week jury trial in Boston after HSI special agents uncovered a 25-year scheme to conceal his persecution of ethnic Serbs during the Bosnian War. He was also convicted of making false claims to enter the United States and ultimately become a U.S. citizen.
Kemal Mrndzic, 52, was convicted of engaging in a scheme to conceal his involvement in persecution of Serb prisoners at the notorious Celebici prison camp in Bosnia in 1992; making a false statement to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents about his role at the camp in assisting indirectly in persecution; possessing a fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate and Social Security card; and using a fraudulently obtained passport and certificate of naturalization. The jury acquitted him of two counts related to making false statements of assisting in direct persecution to an HSI special agent. Mrndzic was indicted in June 2023, by a federal grand jury.
“Today, a jury found Mrndzic guilty of lying about his past to come to the U.S. under false pretenses, concealing his work as a guard at the notorious Celebici prison camp, a prison with well-documented cases of violence, abuse and even murder of prisoners during the Bosnian War,” said HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol. “HSI continues to use our international reach and regional expertise to uncover the past and bring to justice those who lie to undeservingly seek refuge in the U.S. We want to express our deep gratitude to the bravery of the survivors who came forward to testify during this trial.”
“The heartbreaking testimony of the Celebici survivors reminded us that the pain inflicted by Kemal Mrndzic and his fellow guards at that notorious camp still sears them thirty years later,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “Mrndzic concealed his crimes for decades, but gravely underestimated our dedication to finding and prosecuting those who engage in wartime persecution. Investigating and prosecuting these historical transnational cases demands extraordinary commitment and we are deeply grateful for the exceptional work of our federal law enforcement partners and our partners in countries across the globe.”
Mrndzic served as a supervisor of the guards at a notorious prison camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the sectarian war that fractured the country in the 1990s. Five camp survivors testified at trial, recounting the horrific conditions at the Celebici camp in 1992 when Mrndzic was a supervisor there. Survivors testified about their detention in a lightless, airless tunnel for months on end, their near suffocation after being sealed in manholes for hours at a time, and the daily and nightly beatings that were administered by the guards at the camp — with a baseball bat, wooden poles and rifle butts. The survivors testified to murders, the burning of one detainee’s tongue with a heated knife blade, the wrapping of another detainee with a long fuse cord and then lighting it on fire, sexual abuse, and other harrowing acts committed over a period of many months. One survivor recounted the beating death of a 70-year-old detainee, where guards pinned a military badge to his forehead while he was still dying. Survivors also testified about being starved and deprived of the most basic needs, including sleeping on the concrete floor of a sheet metal hanger for months on end while being fed only a slice of bread a day.
A United Nations tribunal investigated the crimes committed at Celebici and in 1998 convicted the two top commanders of the camp and one particularly sadistic guard on numerous crimes including murder and torture. While Mrndzic was interviewed by investigators in connection with that case in 1996, he was not charged by international authorities. Mrndzic subsequently concocted a scheme to leave Bosnia by crossing the border into Croatia and applying to emigrate to the United States using a fabricated story. In his immigration application and interview, he falsely claimed to U.S. immigration authorities that he fled his home after he was captured, interrogated and abused by Serb forces, and could not return home for fear of future persecution. As the government argued at trial, Mrndzic used his own experience as a persecutor to press a false narrative that he had been persecuted. He was admitted to the U.S. in 1999, and ultimately became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009.
The charges of using a fraudulently obtained passport and fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate each provide for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The three remaining charges each provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Krol, Levy, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service in Boston Matthew O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General in Boston Amy Connelly, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations Director in Boston Jennifer De La O made the announcement.
This matter was investigated with the assistance of HSI’s Human Rights Violators & War Crimes Center (HRVWCC), the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Assistance was provided by the DOJ Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and the U.S. embassies in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Helsinki. The Australian Federal Police, Bosnian prosecutors and law enforcement, Serbian prosecutors and law enforcement, law enforcement authorities in Finland, the Canadian Royal Mounted Police and the United Nations’ International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals all provided valuable assistance. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois and Swampscott Police Department also provided valuable assistance.
The HRVWCC is led by HSI and leverages the expertise of criminal investigators, attorneys, historians, intelligence analysts and federal partners to provide a whole of government approach to prevent the United States from becoming a safe haven for individuals who commit war crimes, genocide, torture and other human rights abuses around the globe. Currently, HSI has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,945 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, the HRVWCC has issued more than 79,000 lookouts for potential perpetrators of human rights abuses, and stopped over 390 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.