Muslims accused of granting Bosnian citizenship to 1,300 mujahidin
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - July 10, 2009, Friday

Text of report by Bosnian Serb state-owned daily Glas Srpske, on 8 July

[Report by Goran Maunaga: "Osmani Clan Members, Too, Possess B-H Citizenship"]

Banja Luka - Cazim Osmani, aka Felix, leader of the Osmani criminal clan in Croatia, portrayed in the German press as "European drug kingpin," possesses the citizenship of B-H, just like most members of this mafia-like criminal organization. They acquired citizenships thanks to direct ties between the Croatian intelligence service and Bosniak security agencies in B-H.

This was stated by Dzevad Galijasevic, a member of the South East Europe Anti Terrorist and Organized Crime Expert Team, who added that "it is not surprising because all logistics and intelligence activities of the RB-H [Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina] Army had been carried out via Croatia."

"As a result, almost the entire Croatian criminal underground, currently more than 500 members, were granted B-H citizenship. The biggest problem, however, is that some applicants for citizenship were given completely new identities," Galijasevic said.

It is indicative, he added, that Serbia's most notorious criminals, including the "Zemun Clan" members, obtained B-H citizenship and identity documents from the Bosniak authorities in Sarajevo.

Therefore, he concluded, terrorists, that is, the mujahidin, of whom 1,300 were granted B-H citizenship and fake identity documents, still pose the most serious security threat to B-H and the region.

Mirko Okolic, a member of the Joint Committee for Defence and Security of the B-H Parliament's Lower House and chairman of the Joint Oversight Committee for OSA [Intelligence and Security Agency], says that everything is now in the hands of investigative bodies which are supposed to make an effort to track down failures in CIPS [Citizen Identification Protection System] and the B-H Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications.

"All citizenships need to be urgently reviewed and those acquired illegally revoked. There is no need to step up the legislation and rules. One should rather be stricter on the executives, because it is all due to human factor. There are only a few mistakes in the legislation in this field," Okolic says.

When asked whether the "Zemun Clan" members Ninoslav Konstantinovic, Milos Simovic, Vladimir Milisavljevic, Sretko Kalinic, and Milan Jurisic possess B-H citizenship, officials of the B-H Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications replied that they "need more information about those people" to be able to answer our question.

Marina Bakic, spokeswoman for the B-H Justice Ministry, said that the process of gathering information on those who cannot be extradited to some other country on account of dual citizenship was under way.

"We know for sure that there are currently dozens of such individuals," Bakic said.

Convicted war criminal Branimir Glavas, HDZ's [Croatian Democratic Union] number one tycoon Miroslav Kutle; Zoran Stefanovic, a suspect in the Split post office robbery; Vladimir Jovanovic, aka Vlada Japanac, former inmate of a pre-extradition detention centre in Italy; and Ljubisa Lindo, a suspected drug trafficker wanted by Serbian authorities, possess B-H citizenship as well.

Andrija Draskovic also has B-H citizenship issued in Brcko and a Bosnian identity card issued in Tomislavgrad, the B-H Federation.

[Box] Naturalized Citizens

The committee tasked with reviewing the status of citizens naturalized during the period from 6 March 1992 until the signing of the Dayton peace accord has established that around 11,000 people had been granted B-H citizenship in that period.

"Of that number, about 30 had been naturalized in the Serb entity, and about 200 in the Croat Republic of Herceg Bosna. The rest obtained citizenship in the territory then under control of the RB-H Army. Of this number, 90 per cent of the naturalized citizens were from Sandzak and Macedonia. The remaining 10 per cent pertain to foreigners, mostly Arabs," the committee members said.

Source: Glas Srpske, Banja Luka, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 8 Jul 09
Posted for Fair Use only.