JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 19 (UPI) -- A former Bosnian prison guard and convicted war criminal pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship in a Florida court.
Slobo Maric, 56, now a Jacksonville, Fla., resident, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002. In federal court Monday he admitted he failed to disclose, during his citizenship process, that he was second-in-command at a Bosnian prison housing captured Bosnian-Croatian soldiers in the 1990s.
The plea agreement stated that Maric directly participated in abusing prisoners, and sent prisoners on dangerous and deadly work details on the front line of the conflict.
The Bosnian government charged Maric for his criminal conduct, and indicted and convicted him in absentia after he immigrated to the United States. The plea agreement said Maric was aware of the legal proceedings against him in Bosnia but did not disclose it, and lied about his actions in Bosnia on his U.S. citizenship application.
His sentencing has not been scheduled.
