Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize War Criminal Who Beat, Tortured, and Sexually Assaulted Civilians in the Bosnian War in 1992
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - The United States filed a denaturalization action in the Western District of Virginia yesterday against Slobodan Letic, a native of Croatia, who, according to the Department of Justice’s complaint, concealed and misrepresented his involvement in the beating, torture, and sexual assault of civilians in the Bosnian War in 1992, when he was an officer in the Bosnian Serb army. Letic took two women detainees out of a camp before driving them to an apartment where he beat and raped them. After the women were released from the camp, Letic later found one of them walking in the streets and again took her to an abandoned house and forcefully raped her. Letic also invaded the homes of other civilians in Bosnia and inflicted severe beatings, torture, and mock executions on them.
Letic concealed his involvement in war crimes and acts of persecution throughout his immigration and naturalization proceedings after entering the United States by claiming to be a refugee in 2000. Additionally, the civil complaint alleges that Letic concealed his Bosnian criminal convictions for corruption-related acts he performed as a police officer after the war. Letic naturalized as a U.S. citizen on Sept. 22, 2006.
“The United States is not a safe haven for war criminals and human rights violators,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Letic entered our country posing as a victim of persecution when in fact he had committed horrendous acts as a persecutor of others. He took advantage of our generous system for refugee admissions and should not have been granted U.S. citizenship. This action seeks to redress that wrong, and we are committed to upholding the integrity of the naturalization process against fraud and misrepresentation.”
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and his certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.
This case was investigated by the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, with assistance from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations Historian William Tomljanovich and Attaché John Christoforo of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the government of Bosnia. The litigation is being handled by Trial Attorney Christopher Lyerla and reviewed by Max Weintraub of the Office of Immigration Litigation, General Litigation and Appeals Section, Affirmative Litigation Unit.
The claims made in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
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Source: Justice.gov
