Italian investigators are looking into claims of up to 100 people paying to shoot civilians in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War in the early 1990s, media reported Wednesday. File Photo by Mzwele/EPA
Prosecutors in Milan, Italy, are looking into claims that Italians and others paid money to shoot and kill civilians in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s.
The investigation was launched after Italian journalist Ezio Gavazzeni provided the Milan prosecutors’ office with a 17-page report claiming that wealthy individuals paid to participate in “sniper safaris” in Sarajevo, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Gavazzeni claimed about 100 “very wealthy people” had “paid to be able to kill defenseless civilians” in Sarajevo while positioned in hilly locations controlled by Serbs.
Sarajevo was besieged by Serbian forces for four years, during which more than 11,000 people died after the former nation of Yugoslavia descended into civil war.
The alleged sniper tourists paid varying sums to shoot and kill men, women and children while the city was being shelled by mortars and artillery and subjected to sniper fire.
Similar claims have been made, but Gavazzeni’s report includes testimony from someone identified as a Bosnian military intelligence officer.
The officer said Bosnia intelligence learned of the alleged sniper safaris in 1993 and provided information regarding them to Italian intelligence in 1994.
The Bosnian intelligence officer also said the alleged safaris ended after three or fourth months.
Italy’s Sismi military intelligence later reported that tourists flew from Trieste in northern Italy to Bosnia and travel to the hills surrounding Sarajevo to allegedly participate in sniper safaris.
The allegations have prompted Italian counter-terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis to investigate the claims as a potential murder case.
Gavazzeni read about the alleged sniper safaris in an Italian newspaper about 30 years ago, but renewed his interest after watching the 2022 Sarajevo Safari documentary by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic.
The documentary claims people from Russia, Italy, Canada, the United States and other nations each paid up to $116,000 to shoot at civilians in Sarajevo.
The siege of Sarajevo lasted from 1992 to 1996, and Gavazzeni’s report indicates “rich people” participated “for fun” and not through religious or political motivation, according to TVP World.
“We are talking about people who love guns who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safaris in Africa,” Gavazzeni said in his report.
Documentarian Zupanic told Balkan Insight that he initially didn’t believe the alleged sniper safaris were real, but said he found a “credible witness” who talked on camera, TVP World reported.
The witness is said to be a former intelligence officer, but it’s unclear if the individual is the same Bosnian officer cited by Gavazzeni.
After Zupanic’s documentary aired, Serbian veterans condemned its claims as an “absolute and heinous lie.”
Word of the alleged sniper safaris first came from a captured Serbian volunteer soldier and was reported in documents regarding the prisoner’s interrogation.
