A West Virginia woman who became a U.S. citizen after immigrating from Bosnia was sentenced to 30 months in prison for lying on her naturalization application and under oath about involvement in wartime abuses in the 1990s.
Nada Radovan Tomanić, 53, was a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina and has been sentenced this week to 30 months in federal prison for naturalization fraud. Prosecutors say the sentence stems from deliberate falsehoods on her 2012 naturalization paperwork and during a sworn immigration interview.
Court statements and documents say Tomanić served with the Zulfikar Special Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1990s conflict. According to those records, she and others took part in severe physical and psychological abuse of Bosnian Serb civilian detainees, including conduct that amounted to torture and inhuman treatment.
When she sought U.S. citizenship in 2012, Tomanić reportedly denied serving at a detention facility or participating in any detention-related activities. She is also accused of falsely denying she had committed a crime under the Criminal Law of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, specifically the crime of inflicting serious bodily harm.
“The defendant tortured and abused prisoners in Bosnia and then lied to U.S. immigration authorities to live in the U.S. and become a citizen,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Human rights violators are not welcome in the United States. 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.”
Prosecutors say Tomanić’s misrepresentations were not limited to paperwork; she made the same false statements while under oath during her U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview. That sworn interview is treated as a legal obligation to be truthful, and the government charged her for procuring citizenship by deception after uncovering evidence to the contrary.
Tomanić pleaded guilty on Nov. 10, 2025, to one count of procuring citizenship contrary to law and received the sentence handed down this week. “I sincerely appreciate the investigative work of our law enforcement partners both here in the U.S. and in Bosnia who have disregarded the passage of decades to ensure that justice is served,” said U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan for the District of Connecticut. “There is no statute of limitations for human decency.”
The investigation involved multiple U.S. agencies working together, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Fraud Detection and National Security. The FBI’s International Human Rights Unit also provided support, and foreign partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the United Nations residual tribunal helped by supplying evidence and cooperation.
“This case has always been about more than lying on naturalization documents,” said Special Agent in Charge P.J. O’Brien of the FBI New Haven Field Office. “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. The FBI, along with our partners at the Department of Homeland Security’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security will continue to investigate crimes of this nature to ensure the sanctity of the immigration process for all who righteously apply for U.S. Citizenship.”
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Elizabeth Nielsen of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anastasia King and Angel Krull handling the matter for the District of Connecticut. HRSP historians assisted the prosecution, and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided additional support for the cross-border evidence work.
Authorities encourage anyone with information about human rights violators in the United States to contact the FBI by phone at 1-800-CALLFBI (1-800-225-5324) or to use the FBI online tip form. Homeland Security Investigations can be reached at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423), and ICE also accepts tips through its online tip submission system.
