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A Bosnian Serb immigrant who was convicted of lying on his U.S. visa application is appealing in federal court.

Veselin Vidacak was one of three local men caught up in a nationwide sweep for war criminals in December 2006. A jury found him guilty in May 2007 of lying on his application for a green card. Vidacak was deported, along with Ugljesa Pantic and Milivoje Jankovic. All three men had immigrated to the United States as refugees. They lived in High Point at the time of their arrests.

Greensboro attorney J. Scott Coalter said the jury shouldn't have considered foreign military records that may not have been authenticated.

Coalter will argue his case Oct. 29 before the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Even if the appeals court overturns the conviction, Vidacak likely won't be able to return to the United States anytime soon, immigration attorney Jeremy McKinney said. McKinney, who works with Coalter, represented the three men in their deportation hearings last year.

Anyone who is deported cannot apply for a new visa for 10 years. Even then, the military record that the government objected to likely would still be an obstacle, McKinney said.

The government accused the men of not indicating their involvement in the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of the Republic of Srpska when asked about military service on immigration forms. The Zvornik Brigade was responsible for the massacre of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian village of Srebrenica in July 1995.

All three men said they did not take part in the massacre.

Pantic, who also was found guilty of lying on his visa application, said he was forced into service, splitting wood and guarding water supplies. But he said he never carried a gun nor wore a uniform.

Pantic is appealing his conviction.

Vidacak also said he was not a soldier. His job was to warn villagers when Muslim forces approached.

Military records showed Vidacak was on sick leave at the time of the massacre. He had been injured by a mortar in April 1995.

During Jankovic's federal trial in May 2007, he said the Srpska forces threatened him and his family if he didn't stand watch.

Jankovic and his family had fled a predominantly Muslim area at the start of the conflict. They moved to an area controlled by Bosnian Serbs where they were given refugee housing.

A jury found Jankovic not guilty of lying on immigration forms. He was deported anyway, McKinney said.

That just shows how "due process is so different in criminal court than in immigration court," he said.

Jankovic's wife also was deported, but their children accepted voluntary departure. That means when they grow up, they can apply to return and likely will have no problems immigrating here, McKinney said.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com