According to federal authorities, a woman from Bosnia who took part in the torture, beating, and humiliation of prisoners was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for lying on her citizenship application to conceal her role in serious war crimes during the 1990s Bosnian conflict.
On Monday, April 27, 2026, ICE announced that Nada Radovan Tomanic, 53, of West Virginia and formerly of Hartford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to one count of procuring citizenship contrary to law.
CASE UPDATE from @FBINewHaven: West Virginia Woman Sentenced to Prison for Lying to Obtain U.S. Citizenship After Committing Torture and War Crimes in Bosnia
Nada Radovan Tomanić, 53, served with the Zulfikar Special Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. When… pic.twitter.com/zBufz5YIfI
— FBI (@FBI) April 10, 2026
According to the DOJ and court documents, Tomanić served with the Zulfikar Special Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the armed conflict. She participated in the severe physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of Bosnian Serb civilian prisoners – women, children and elderly men – including acts of torture and inhuman treatment that amounted to war crimes.
U.S. prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley that Tomanic had beaten prisoners with her fists, boots, a two-by-four, a baton and a rifle, killing one man by kicking him in the head.
NEW: HSI Investigation Leads to Woman Being Sentenced for Citizenship Fraud After Hiding Involvement in War Crimes
Homeland Security Investigations Washington D.C.@HSI_DC tells @BorderHawkNews they uncovered that 53-year old NADA RADOVAN TOMANIC, formerly of Connecticut, had an… pic.twitter.com/oCrpgX7nGu
— Wid Lyman (@Wid_Lyman) April 21, 2026
According to the prosecutors’ sentencing memo, Tomanic had also forced male detainees to perform sex acts on each other and made them touch her breasts, asking if they wanted to have sex with her.
“Regardless of how they answered, she beat them,” the memo said.
One former prisoner told investigators that Tomanic and others forced Bosnian Serb prisoners “to pray like Muslims” and drink urine.
Yet, Tomanic came to the United States as a refugee in 1997, exploiting asylum laws.
“Human rights violators are not welcome in the United States,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said. “Thanks to the courage of the victims, and the diligence and dedication of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, the defendant has been held accountable for exploiting our immigration system and evading responsibility for her crimes.”
When applying for naturalization in Hartford in 2012, Tomanic falsely denied serving in a detention facility or any situation involving the detention of others. She also denied committing any crime for which she had not been arrested, specifically the offense of inflicting serious bodily harm under former Yugoslav law.
She repeated these lies under oath during an interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer, extending her deception “beyond her written naturalization application.”
“During her interview with USCIS, she was placed under oath and required by law to provide truthful answers. Despite that obligation, she again lied about her service in a detention facility and her past criminal conduct.”
The FBI led the investigation with support from Homeland Security Investigations’ Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and USCIS’ Office of Fraud Detection and National Security. International partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the United Nations provided key evidence.
A federal grand jury indicted Tomanić, with Judge Dooley handing down the sentence in Bridgeport federal court this week.
“This case has always been about more than lying on naturalization documents,” Special Agent in Charge P.J. O’Brien of the FBI New Haven Field Office, said. “Over the course of this investigation Tomanić’s violent history of targeting people based on their ethnicity and religion came to light, and we hope that yesterday’s sentencing gives some measure of justice to her victims.”
Prosecutors said the case demonstrates the U.S. commitment to barring human rights violators from citizenship, as Tomanic faces also denaturalization and deportation.
Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact the FBI at 800-CALLFBI (800-225-5324) or the FBI’s online tip form.
