BOISE—A federal grand jury in the District of Idaho returned an indictment last week charging Miran Kostic, 66, of Boise, Idaho, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with lying while attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship.
According to court documents, Kostic was a high-level official in the so-called Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (APZB). In that role, he pistol-whipped prisoners, beat them with wooden clubs, stakes, and his fists, and kicked them, causing them to lose consciousness. He forced prisoners to beat each other, and he also ordered other members of the APZB to beat prisoners. In his applications to become a U.S. citizen and in interviews with the FBI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), he repeatedly lied about the abuse he participated in and ordered and failed to disclose charges filed against him in Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes, among other lies.
Kostic is charged with attempted naturalization fraud and making material false statements to law enforcement agents. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each charge of attempted naturalization fraud and five years in prison for the false statements charge…