Former Bosnian Combatant Sentenced To Federal Prison For Passport Fraud
Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 12:00 P.M. ET. 1 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BOSTON, MA.- Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy reported on Thursday, November 7, 2024, Azem Gigo Zebic, 52, of Winthrop, Massachusetts, appeared in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 18 months of federal probation, 100 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine for his conviction of Passport Fraud.
Zebic was convicted of fraudulently obtaining a United States passport and then using the passport to enter the United States from Istanbul, Turkey, in 2021.
   According to documents filed with the district court, Zebic was admitted into the United States from Croatia in 1997 after falsely claiming that he had been the subject of persecution by Serbian forces during the Bosnian War. Zebic falsely claimed that Serb forces had captured, interrogated, and beaten him and forced him to remove wounded soldiers from the frontlines of the war.
Helped Another Enter The U.S. Unlawfully
Further, once in the United States, Zebic continued to make false statements about his past, including he never assisted anyone else in entering the United States illegally. However, Zebic had, in fact, assisted another alleged Bosnian combatant, Kemal Mrndzic, in entering the United States by unlawfully claiming that he was Mrndzic’s half-brother. Mrndzic was convicted by a federal jury in October 2024 of a twenty-five-year scheme to conceal his persecution of Serb prisoners at the notorious Celebici prison camp and related crimes. Zebic testified at Mrndzik’s trial.
