Everett, Wash., man agrees to face trial in Bosnia


November 16, 2011 at 1:06p.m.

Everett, Wash., man agrees to face trial in Bosnia

SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state man who came to the United States in 2001 has agreed to return to Bosnia to face a war crimes trial.

Edin Dzeko of Everett appeared in federal court Tuesday in Seattle for the extradition hearing.

He’s accused of being a member of a Bosnian execution squad that killed Croat civilians and disarmed soldiers captured by Bosnian forces in 1993 during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

The 39-year-old Dzeko told the judge he is eager to go back to Bosnia and clear his name.

The Daily Herald reports more than 30 of Dzeko’s friends and relatives exchanged smiles and thumbs-up with him in the courtroom. If convicted he faces 10 years in prison.

After coming to the United States, Dzeko became a U.S. citizen. He worked as groundskeeper at naval facilities in Everett until his arrest in April.