Italian authorities have opened an investigation into twisted ‘war tourists’ who allegedly paid Serb soldiers during the genocidal Bosnia war for the chance to snipe civilians in besieged Sarajevo, including shooting children for a premium price.
The public prosecutor’s office in Milan has opened the investigation after evidence resurfaced alleging that Italian citizens, amongst other nationals, travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992–95 war to pay and enjoy a human safari hunting trip.
Dubbed the “Sarajevo Safari”, the locals of Bosnia and Herzegovina have reportedly long been aware of this dark chapter during Sarajevo’s brutal three-year siege, but the Italian investigation is the first time that a viable probe by authorities could bring those accountable to justice.
The 17-page legal complaint was lodged by Italian journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni to prosecutors in Milan as well as to the mayor of Sarajevo.
The report reveals how “at least 100” foreigners from Italy, the US, Canada, Russia, Germany, France and Britain are said to have partaken in the siege of Sarajevo for nothing more than a perverse pursuit of pleasure and love for hunting and weapons.
The wealthy foreigners paid upwards of £80,000 to engage in sick human hunting as though it were a sport. Children commanded the highest fee, whereas old people could be shot for free, it has been claimed.
The Siege of Sarajevo
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The Siege of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days, the longest siege in modern European history, even outlasting that of the 872-day siege of Leningrad during WWII.
Following the disintegration of Yugoslavia and Bosnia declaring independence in April 1992, Serbian units of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) encircled Sarajevo, starting one of the worst sieges in modern history.
Sarajevo is strategically located in a valley, surrounded by towering mountains on all sides. Serb forces from the JNA instantly took up positions on these mountains and began a siege that would kill over 11,500 people by 1996.
The Siege of Sarajevo was infamous for its relentless snipers, where one could not even cross a street without having to run in zigzags to avoid the line of fire.
Gavazzeni’s report describes a “manhunt” by “very wealthy people” who had a passion for weapons, who “paid to be able to kill defenceless civilians.”
The allegations have been made numerous times over the last 30 years since the Bosnian war ended, but Gavazzeni’s gathering of evidence has been the most substantial yet, with the testimony of a Bosnian military intelligence officer.
Despite the investigation in Bosnia stalling many years ago, Gavazzeni has revived the prospect of bringing the deranged war criminals to justice.
Italian counter-terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis is examining the evidence on the individuals on charges of murder.
“There were no political or religious motivations — they were rich people who went there for fun and personal satisfaction,” Gavazzeni said.
“We are talking about people who love guns, who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safari in Africa.”
The Sarajevo Safari
Gavazzeni first saw reports of the “sniper tourists” in the Italian media in the 1990s, but decided to pursue the case further after watching Sarajevo Safari, a popular documentary by Slovenian director Miran Zupanič.
Incriminating footage from 1992 shows Russian nationalist writer and politician Eduard Limonov firing multiple rounds into Sarajevo from a heavy machine gun.
He was given a tour of the Serb hillside positions by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, a convicted war criminal.
Former veterans of the JNA and the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) have said that the allegations are “an absolutely heinous lie”, but after decades in the shadows, the alleged crimes, which were dubbed an “urban myth”, have returned to the spotlight with concrete evidence.
One of Gavazzeni’s sources, a former Bosnian intelligence officer, told him that he first learned of the “weekend sniper” phenomenon in late 1993 through documents detailing an interrogation of a captured volunteer to the Serb forces.
The prisoner said five foreigners, including three Italians, travelled from Belgrade before being escorted to the mountains around Sarajevo.
One of the weekend snipers was identified as the owner of a private cosmetic surgery clinic in Milan. According to Gavazzeni, as many as 100 such tourists took part, including “many, many, many Italians.”
“I hope they can locate one or two — maybe ten,” Gavazzeni told Italian media La Repubblica.
1,601 children were killed during the siege, and approximately 15,000 other children injured. The Bosnian war killed over 100,000 people from 1992–95, most of whom were Muslims. Sarajevo was a Muslim-majority city at the time of the siege but many of the victims of the of the brutal siege were also Christians.
Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a divided country, split into two federations with separate governing bodies.
Republika Srpska (the Serbian Republic) occupies 49% of the country’s territory, and was carved out via the Serb army during the war, built on ethnic cleansing, genocide, and destroyed mosques.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of war criminals are still at large for the crimes they committed against Bosnian civilians, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
