Hundreds of Bosnians in US May Be Guilty of War Crimes: Report

A Virginia soccer coach, Vegas casino workers, a dozen Phoenix residents: Hundreds of Bosnians living in the US may be guilty of war crimes, say American officials, and authorities are working to deport at least 150 of them, the New York Times reports. That number could climb past 600, officials tell the Times: "The more we dig, the more documents we find." The effort was spawned by the 2004 arrest of a construction worker in Boston who was eventually convicted of crimes against humanity; that prompted officials to recognize that many with ties to war crimes during the 1990s were living in the US and doing little to hide themselves, the Times reports.

During that decade, some 120,000 Bosnian refugees sought US visas. Their applications required them to divulge their military histories—but officials didn't do much to investigate the claims. This month, the US asked members of the global Bosnian community to offer up anything they knew about war crimes, the Times reports. Now, there are about 300 suspects, about half of whom may have been involved in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which saw Bosnian Serbs execute thousands of unarmed Muslims. Click for the Times' full report. (More war crimes stories.)