A former Bosnian prison camp supervisor and accused war criminal — living in a Boston suburb for decades — has been charged with lying about being a refugee and claiming US citizenship.
Kemal Mrndzic, 50, was nabbed by federal authorities Wednesday during a raid on his apartment in Swampscott, a coastal town 15 miles north of Boston.
Mrndzic was charged with falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact from the US government, using a fraudulently obtained US passport, and possessing and using a fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate and Social Security card, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement.
According to a complaint affidavit obtained by The Post, Mrndzic worked as a supervisor of guards at the notorious Celebici prison camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the sectarian war that ravaged the country in the 1990s.
The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found that guards at Celebici had murdered, tortured and raped Serb prisoners at the camp.
Three of Mrndzic’s fellow guards were convicted by the ICTY after a trial in The Hague, where survivors testified on the harrowing prison camp conditions.
Witnesses described acts of violence by camp guards while shouting, “Auschwitz, Auschwitz” and giving each other the Nazi salute. Prisoners also were told they’d never leave the camp alive.
According to the complaint, more than a dozen former inmates identified Mrndzic to the international court as one of the most sadistic guards responsible for beatings and other abuses at Celebici.
Three survivors claimed Mrndzic would practice “karate” moves on the inmates.
“One of those targeted by Mrndzic for ‘karate’ strikes described Mrndzic as a ‘particularly vicious’ guard because he selected and beat prisoners on his own initiative rather than being ordered to do so,” according to the complaint.
Court filings allege that after the war ended in 1995, investigators from the ICTY interviewed Mrndzic in Sarajevo and reportedly accused him of being involved crimes at Celebici — claims he denied.
“Mrndzic subsequently concocted a scheme to flee the country by crossing the border into Croatia and allegedly applying as a refugee to the United States using a fabricated story,” prosecutors said.
In his refugee application and interview, Mrndzic allegedly falsely claimed he fled his home after he was captured, interrogated and abused by Serb forces, and could not return “for fear of future persecution.”
He was allowed to enter the US as a refugee with his wife in 1999; a decade later, he became a naturalized citizen.
Mrndzic made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday and was released on $30,000 bond.
If convicted of all the charges against him, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
