Accused Swampscott Bosnian War Criminal Indicted: U.S. Attorney

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The Swampscott man charged in May with falsifying a story about being the victim of war crimes in Bosnia in the 1990s, when he was actually involved in committing those crimes as a prison camp guard supervisor, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges of making fraudulent claims to gain entry into the United States and becoming a U.S. citizen.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Kemal Mrndzic, 51, was indicted on a series of crimes, including "falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact from the U.S. government by trick, scheme or device."

He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

According to the charging documents, Mrndzic is accused of being a guard supervisor at a notorious Celebici prison camp during the 1990s sectarian war where a United Nations International Criminal Tribunal found that guards "committed numerous murders, rapes, and had engaged in torture and other forms of persecution of Serb prisoners at the camp."

The charging documents said that "numerous survivors have since identified Mrndzic as being involved in the beatings and other abuses committed there."

Mrndzic is accused of creating a scheme to flee the country into Croatia and then applying as a refugee to the United States using a fabricated story that he was a victim of the abuse who was captured, interrogated and abused by Serb forces.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said he was admitted to the U.S. as a refugee in 1999, and ultimately became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009.

"Our special agents spend years investigating cases of alleged human rights violators and war criminals, interviewing survivors and working alongside historians, in an effort to uncover the true history of perpetrators and hold them accountable for their actions," said Michael Krol, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England.

Celebici Camp survivors and family members who have information about the operation of the Camp, or have questions regarding this matter, are encouraged to call the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 888-221-6023 or send an email to: usma.victimassistance@usdoj.gov.

Those calling should indicate if you would prefer to be contacted in English or Serbo-Croatian.