Former member of the 'Zulfikar' unit Nada Tomanić arrested in America: US citizenship to be revoked

(Patria) - American citizen Nada Radovan Tomanić, originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has been arrested in Morgantown, West Virginia, on suspicion of concealing her wartime past in the Zulfikar unit in BiH in order to obtain US citizenship.

According to the indictment, the now fifty-one-year-old Nada Radovan Tomanić from West Virginia allegedly served in the Special Unit of the Army of BiH Zulfikar during the armed conflict in that country in the 1990s, according to the US Department of Justice in a statement on December 1.

According to existing court records for war crimes committed in BiH, a detention facility for persons of Serb and Croat nationality was established in 1993 on Mount Igman, Hadžići municipality near Sarajevo, at the site of the former Mrazište Hotel. People were brought to this location from other detention facilities (Silos in Tarčin, Musala in Konjic, etc.).

Detainees were subjected to inhumane conditions, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, and beatings. The facility was managed by the special purpose unit "Zulfikar", whose command was located in this hotel.

According to the US indictment for concealing her wartime past, Nada Tomanić, along with other soldiers of the Zulfikar unit, allegedly participated in the physical and psychological abuse of Bosnian Serb prisoners, due to their ethnicity, religion, and membership in a particular social group, the US Department of Justice announced.

The US indictment states that Tomanić, when applying for naturalization, falsely represented that she had not persecuted anyone based on religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and that she had never committed a crime for which she was not arrested.

"Nada Tomanić has enjoyed the privileges of US citizenship for over 10 years – privileges she allegedly obtained by lying to conceal human rights violations she committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.

"The Department of Justice will vigorously enforce our nation's immigration laws to ensure that the United States does not serve as a safe haven for persecutors," she emphasized.

US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery for the District of Connecticut stated that "the accused allegedly concealed her past human rights abuses and repeatedly lied during the immigration and citizenship process to enter this country and become a US citizen".

She "thanked investigative partners in the US and BiH for disregarding the time elapsed since the commission of the acts to ensure that justice is served".

"Nada Tomanić allegedly participated in the abuse of Bosnian Serb prisoners and lied about it to the US government decades later," said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI's Criminal Investigations Division.

"The FBI, our international partners, and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center are fiercely committed to investigating human rights violations, regardless of where and how long ago the crime occurred," he emphasized.

Nada Radovan Tomanić is charged with two counts of unlawful procurement of naturalization. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each count. A conviction would also result in the automatic revocation of her US citizenship.

The FBI is investigating the case, with coordination provided by the Department of Homeland Security's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and the Citizenship and Immigration Services' Fraud Detection and National Security Office (FDNS), along with the FBI's International Human Rights Unit.

The Department of Justice thanked the Ministry of Justice of BiH, the Ministry of Justice of Serbia, and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which were instrumental in the further investigation.

Trial Attorney Elizabeth Nielsen from the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant US Attorney Angel Krull for the District of Connecticut are prosecuting the case, with the assistance of an HRSP historian. Assistance was also provided by the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs.