Source: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2016 ... rimes-past

Jacksonville man pleads guilty about hiding Bosnian war crimes past during U.S. citizenship process

A 56-year-old Jacksonville man pleaded guilty Monday to unlawfully procuring U.S. citizenship by not revealing the crimes he committed during conflict there in the 1990s as a member of the Bosnian Army, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Slobo Maric pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Klindt, but sentencing has not been scheduled, prosecutors said.

According to his plea agreement, Maric served as a shift leader and second-in-command at a detention facility where guards subjected captured Bosnian-Croat soldiers to serious physical abuse and humiliation in 1993. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Maric selected detainees for other guards to abuse and participated in abusing several prisoners. He also sent prisoners on dangerous work details on the front line of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the plea agreement stated.

After Maric immigrated to the United States, prosecutors said the Bosnian government indicted and convicted him in absentia for war crimes against prisoners. According to the plea agreement, Maric knew about the Bosnian court proceedings but didn’t disclose them to U.S. officials during his naturalization process. He also lied about his conduct on his U.S. citizenship application becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen on Oct. 31, 2002.