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US Orders Wanted Bosnian War Crimes Suspect Deported


This image released by the Washington County, Minn. Sheriff's Department shows Zdenko Jakisa. Jakisa will be deported for concealing a long criminal past in his home country of Bosnia, a federal judge said.
This image released by the Washington County, Minn. Sheriff's Department shows Zdenko Jakisa. Jakisa will be deported for concealing a long criminal past in his home country of Bosnia, a federal judge said.

A U.S. federal judge in Minnesota Thursday ordered a Bosnian man deported for lying about war crimes when he emigrated to the United States in 1998.

Zdenko Jakisa of Forest Lake, near Minneapolis, belonged to the notoriously brutal Croatian Defense Council during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

He was convicted in Bosnia of various crimes, including killing an elderly Serbian woman by shooting her through her bedroom window. He still faces other criminal charges in Bosnia.

Jakisa fled to the United States and concealed his criminal past when he applied for permanent residency.

He has operated a taxi business in Forest Lake, where he has been in trouble with the law for driving while impaired and disorderly conduct.

Jakisa told the judge he had to lie on his immigration form because he said his and his wife's lives were in danger in Bosnia.

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