The Milanese prosecutors' office has begun an investigation into Italian “sniper safaris” in which Italian tourists paid to shoot Bosnian civilians trapped in besieged Sarajevo in the 1990s.
Journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni filed a complaint that led to the investigation, having first learned of the so-called safaris three decades earlier in an Italian newspaper, according to the report.
Serbian forces, who besieged the city of Sarajevo, allegedly charged tens of thousands of dollars for rich Italians to travel to the hills surrounding the city to participate in the shooting of Bosnian civilians.
Experts testify Serbs charged Italians to shoot Bosnians
Gavazzeni compiled a 17-page file on the topic, including a report by former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic and the testimony of a Bosnian military intelligence officer, which he submitted to prosecutors in February.
The Bosnian officer told Gavazzeni that his Bosnian colleagues had alerted Italian intelligence to the “safaris” in early 1994. Italian intelligence reportedly informed the official that the trips had stopped within 2 to 3 months.
Italian counter terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis is also involved in the investigations into what Gavazzeni described as a "manhunt" where tourists "paid to be able to kill defenceless civilians"
Some testimonies claim the tourists paid different rates to kill men, women, and children in the war, which took the lives of some 11,000 people.
The report claims that hundreds of tourists paid up to €100,000 to kill the civilians.
Slovenian director Miran Zupanic created a documentary titled “Sarajevo Safari” on the topic in 2022, claiming that Russian and American tourists did the same.
Late Russian politician Eduard Limonov was recorded firing multiple rounds into Sarajevo in 1992.
The current Italian investigation is ongoing, according to the BBC, and investigators have identified a list of potential witnesses. A Bosnian investigation has reportedly stalled.
Members of the British forces who were in Sarajevo during the 1990s reportedly told the BBC that they did not know of any "sniper tourism" happening. They claimed that the checkpoints in the area made bringing tourists in "logistically difficult to accomplish," and one soldier called the allegations an "urban myth."