VZCZCXRO2693
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV
DE RUEHVJ #1748/01 2160609
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 040609Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4087
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 SARAJEVO 001748 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR D (SMITH), P (BAME), EUR (DICARLO), EUR/SCE (HOH, 
SAINZ, FOOKS, MITCHELL), EUR/PGI (REASOR), S/CT (KUSHNER), 
DS/IP, DS/ITA , OSD FOR FLORE, NSC FOR BRAUN, HINNEN, USNIC 
FOR WEBER AND GREGORIAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL PGOV BG
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: CITIZENSHIP REVIEW UNDERWAY AS NEGATIVE 
MEDIA ATTENTION GROWS 
 
REF: A. 05 SARAJEVO 2930 B. SARAJEVO 890 
 
SARAJEVO 00001748  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Judith Cefkin for reasons 1.4 (B), (D) 
 
¶1. (S) SUMMARY: The Embassy has been working with the GBiH 
for more than a year to address the potential threat posed by 
mujaheddin improperly granted citizenship after the 1992-1995 
war.  The BiH Citizenship Review Commission, established in 
January 2006 to review these cases, has received around 500 
of 900 expected files from the Ministry of Security, and has 
reviewed approximately 150 cases.  The Commission has 
determined that roughly 50 percent of these individuals 
should be stripped of their citizenship, and has begun to 
take action against some of them.  Though individuals have 
the right to appeal the Commission's judgment, these initial 
determinations represent an important milestone in one of our 
key counter terrorism objectives. 
 
¶2. (S) Meanwhile, Parliament postponed voting on an amendment 
to the BiH Citizenship Law that would ban anyone stripped of 
citizenship from reapplying for it.  The amendment, proposed 
at our urging, was designed to close a loophole that could 
allow mujaheddin stripped of BiH citizenship to regain it. 
Unfortunately, the Council of Ministers' Legislative Review 
Committee changed the language to allow those stripped of 
citizenship to reapply after five years, provided they 
qualify on other grounds.  Allowing reapplication itself 
would be a problem, but implementation is also a concern. 
Bosnia's young bureaucracy adjudication culture is weak.  As 
a result, adjudicators might end up rubber stamping 
applications and granting citizenship anew. 
 
¶3. (S) Between now and the August parliamentary session, we 
will raise our concerns about the "five year" language with 
key Bosnian legislators, but the prospects for reversing the 
decision are not bright.  Even if the House of 
Representatives strikes the language, the House of Peoples 
might reinsert it.  While not an ideal outcome, failure to 
adopt any amendment would, from our perspective, be even 
worse.  It would leave in place larger loopholes that the 
mujaheddin could exploit far more easily than the five-year 
language.  In this case, and for the moment at least, half a 
loaf may be better than none.  END SUMMARY 
 
CITIZENSHIP COMMISSION MOVES AGAINST MUJAHEDDIN 
 
¶4. (S) Bosnia's Ministry of Security (MoS) has transferred 
500 of the 900 expected files to the Citizenship Review 
Commission, which was established in January 2006 to address 
the wartime legacy of foreign fighters (mujaheddin) 
improperly awarded Bosnian citizenship.  The MoS files are 
supplemented by information provided by the Ministry of 
Defense (MoD), as well as state, entity, and cantonal law 
enforcement organizations.  According to MoS Assistant 
Minister and Commission Chair Vjekoslav Vukovic, law 
enforcement agencies at all levels, with the exception of 
Sarajevo Canton, have been responsive to Commission requests. 
 Vukovic attributes Sarajevo Canton's problems to 
incompetence and disorganization rather than deliberate 
obstruction.  He also notes that the MoD has been slow to 
provide useful information, but believes this reflects the 
poor inventory of its archives. 
 
¶5. (S) Vukovic is optimistic that the Commission will review 
all 900 files and complete its mandate sometime early next 
year. (Note: Bosnian press reports have inaccurately 
estimated the Commission must review anywhere from 1,000 to 
1,500 files.  End Note).  The Commission has already finished 
reviewing approximately 150 cases and determined in that 
roughly 50 percent of the individuals obtained their 
citizenship irregularly and should be stripped of it.  The 
Commission has begun to notify some of these individuals, all 
of whom have the right to an administrative appeal of the 
Commission's decision.  Vukovic predicts the Commission will 
decide many cases summarily, since a large number of 
individuals no longer reside in Bosnia or maintain 
substantial ties here. 
 
PARLIAMENT FAILS TO CLOSE CITIZENSHIP LOOPHOLES 
 
SARAJEVO 00001748  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) On June 19, the Council of Ministers (CoM) approved a 
draft amendment to Bosnia's citizenship law that would bar 
those stripped of citizenship from re-applying for five 
years.  The amendment was designed to close a loophole in 
Bosnian law that might allow foreign fighters stripped of 
their citizenship by the Commission to re-obtain it.  The CoM 
modified the proposed amendment for reasons that are unclear. 
 The original draft law (which the U.S. supported) would have 
permanently banned those stripped of their citizenship from 
reapplying.  The new language would allow them to reapply for 
citizenship after five years.  In some cases, the 
reapplication could be filed as soon as a year from now, as 
some individuals lost their citizenship as early as 2002 via 
previous review processes.  The timing would be unfortunate, 
as BiH's adjudication bureaucracy is currently weak.  Past 
experiences suggests that BiH officials could well fail to 
adequately adjudicate re-applications, allowing foreign 
fighters to re-obtain their citizenship. 
 
¶7. (C) According to Elmir Jahic, Chair of the Parliamentary 
Committee on Human Rights, Immigration and Asylum, the 
five-year language was added by the CoM's Legislative Affairs 
Committee, which reviews all CoM-proposed legislation, to 
address "human rights concerns."  Though Jahic haD portrayed 
himself to us as a supporter of the original language, he 
made no effort to restore it when his committee reviewed the 
amendment prior to sending it to Parliament.  On July 24, the 
House of Representatives postponed its vote on the amendment, 
citing unspecified technical reasons.  Legislators 
tentatively plan to take it up again during Parliament's end 
of August session (no date has been announced). 
 
¶8. (C)  The House of Representatives might remove the 
five-year timeline for reapplication from the law, but the 
House of Peoples is likely to restore it.  The more extremist 
Bosniak representatives known to be sympathetic to the 
foreign fighters' cause (foremost among them Hasan Cengic, 
who is likely to retain his seat after the October elections) 
are located in the House of Peoples, and probably would block 
any measure that permanently barred those who lost 
citizenship from reapplying.  The Citizenship Review 
Commission initially planned to wait until after the issue of 
reapplication was settled before finalizing any cases, but in 
part because of political pressure (mainly from Serbs), it 
decided to act on a first tranche.  We understand it will 
continue to slowly release additional decisions over the next 
several months. 
 
NEGATIVE MEDIA ATTENTION GROWS 
 
¶9. (C) Negative media attention on the Commission's work has 
increased.  Abu Hamza (aka AL HUSEIN IMAD, DPOB: 10 Aug. 
1963, Mohassan, Syria), the Syrian-Bosnian self-proclaimed 
spokesman for Bosnia's radical Muslim community and a 
Commission target, has appeared on television and given 
several press interviews over the last few months, beginning 
in April (ref. B).  In June, Amnesty International, the BiH 
Helsinki Commission for Human Rights, and the International 
Committee for Human Rights called into question the 
citizenship review process.  In a story widely carried by the 
local BiH media, the groups demanded BiH authorities ensure 
that people who lose BiH citizenship would not be transferred 
to countries where they could face the death penalty, torture 
or other inhuman treatment.  This was the first instance of 
international organizations officially commenting on the 
review process. 
 
¶10. (C) Shortly after the publication of the joint statement 
by the human rights NGOs, the BiH Weekly "Patriot" published 
an article listing the names and "final" decisions from each 
case reviewed by the Commission so far.  The "Patriot" is a 
hard-line Serb nationalist weekly paper published in Banja 
Luka, with suspected ties to the more radical elements of the 
SDS.  The story included specific details of each case and 
identified current public office holders it alleges assisted 
mujaheddin in acquiring BiH citizenship illegally.  It 
suggests someone provided the paper with access to Commission 
files, perhaps in an effort to embarrass Bosniak politicians 
 
SARAJEVO 00001748  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
believed to be sympathetic to the cause of mujaheddin, and to 
widen the already growing rift between moderate and extremist 
Bosniak politicians in the run-up to the October elections. 
News articles on the Commission, mostly negative in tone, now 
appear regularly in the local press. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶11. (S) Completion of the Citizenship Commission's work on 
reviewing the citizenship claims of former mujaheddin and 
closing of the final loophole in the citizenship law are top 
USG counter terrorism priorities.  Over the last several 
weeks, the Citizenship Commission has made solid progress in 
its work.  However, the Council of Ministers' actions on the 
Citizenship Law Amendment, and the increasing negative 
attention from the media and human rights NGOs, have 
diminished considerably the chances for a fully satisfactory 
outcome.  We will raise our concerns with sympathetic 
parliamentarians, but we must also prepare contingencies to 
deal with the likelihood that the "five year" language will 
become law. 
 
¶12. (S) Separately, the leak of information to the Serb 
hard-line weekly "Patriot" is also disturbing, not least 
because the individuals concerned could take pre-emptive 
action, e.g., disappear or try to file advance asylum 
applications.  The timing is particularly unfortunate, as it 
raises the profile of the Commission, and the sensitive issue 
of Muslim extremists in Bosnia, at the beginning of what is 
already a vitriolic, ethnic-baiting pre-election season. 
MCELHANEY