Court won’t hear appeal from a Serb

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a Bosnian immigrant of his conviction for lying about his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre so he could get into the United States. The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Marko Boskic, who complained that authorities lied to him to get his confession of taking part in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica. Prosecutors said Boskic acknowledged he was a soldier in a Bosnian Serb military unit and helped execute 1,200 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, where some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed. It was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II. Prosecutors said they believe Boskic may have been personally responsible for killing 100 people. He has not been charged in the killings. Prosecutors got his confession through a staged immigration paperwork review when Boskic asked for travel documents. He was arrested in August 2004 on charges of lying on his refugee application and later on his application to become a permanent U.S. resident. Boskic was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to five years in prison. Lower courts said the deception did not make Boskic’s confession involuntary. The case is Boskic v. U.S., 08-941.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/02/23/court_wont_hear_appeal_from_bosnian/