Deportation trial begins for Hamilton man accused of Bosnian war crimes
The long-awaited trial of a Mount Hope man accused of Bosnian war crimes began in Federal Court on Monday, where lawyers for the Canadian government argued he should be stripped of his citizenship and removed from the country.
The ministers of citizenship and immigration, and of public safety and emergency preparedness accuse Bozo Jozepovic of lying about his military involvement when he applied in 1997 to come to Canada as a refugee with his family. He became a citizen in 2004.
In an opening address, government lawyer Sean Gaudet told the court the evidence will prove that Jozepovic was a member of the Croatian Defence Council, a Croatian-controlled military often called the HVO that operated in Bosnia amid the conflict in the early 1990s. In 1993, the HVO rounded up and detained a group of Muslim neighbours in Jozepovic's home village of Poljani. Seven Muslim men were killed.
The allegations from Canada against Jozepovic were levelled in 2017, but it has taken more than five years for the case to make it to trial. Jozepovic faced similar accusations in U.S. immigration court 10 years prior, after the he tried to cross into Washington State from British Columbia as part of his work as a long-haul truck driver. He was later barred from entering the U.S.
On Monday, court heard that on June 9, 1993, HVO soldiers in the Bosnian village of Poljani rounded up Muslim men, women and children and detained them for five days in the basement of an elementary school where they were barracked. They were not fed properly or given enough water, were made to sleep on wet, wooden planks on the floor, and feared for their lives. Seven men were tortured and murdered.
Gaudet said documents and witnesses will show that Jozepovic was a known member of HVO in the community. He also said there will be evidence Jozepovic took part in the events of June 9, including that he stopped a group of Muslim men, women and children who were attempting to flee, and fired a gun to frighten them and make it clear they could not leave." On the way to the barracks, two men from this group were separated and put into a van with other men who appeared bloodied. These men were ultimately found murdered.
When Jozepovic and his family applied to come to Canada as refugees four years later, he was required to fill out a form disclosing any involvement in militia or defence units since 1991. On that form he said he was not part of any army during the 1990s, but was a driver in civil defence.
Gaudet said there are two declarations that Federal Court Justice B. Richard Bell is being asked to weigh. The first is that Jozepovic obtained citizenship by false representation, fraud or by concealing material circumstances. If the court finds this, he will have his citizenship revoked. But, because Jozepovic entered Canada as a refugee claimant he would revert to that status and could remain in the country.
The second declaration the government is seeking is for the court to find Jozepovic committed acts outside Canada that constitute a crime against humanity or a war crime. If that happens, he would face a removal order.
Our position there will be enough evidence to make both (declarations)," Gaudet said.
The five-week trial is expected to hear from an immigration official who processed Jozepovic's claim in an office in Vienna, an expert on the HVO tactics in central Bosnia and the conflict in the region, and six witnesses who were captured and imprisoned in Poljani.
Defence lawyers have not yet outlined their case, but the court has heard they oppose documents and some aspects of the expert witness report.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com