The Milan public prosecutor’s office has assigned counterterrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis to examine a complaint that wealthy foreigners joined so-called “sniper safaris” on Bosnian Serb positions overlooking the city. The case turns on evidence gathered three decades after more than 11,000 people were killed during the siege of Sarajevo.

Alleged ‘Sniper Safaris’ Above Sarajevo

The Bosnian officer’s account describes “very wealthy people” with a passion for weapons paying large sums to “kill defenceless civilians” from hillside Serb positions.

He said Bosnian forces learned of the safaris in late 1993 and passed the information to Italy’s Sismi military intelligence in early 1994. Within “two to three months,” he recalled being told that “we’ve put a stop to it and there won’t be any more safaris,” and the trips ceased.

According to the complaint, participants allegedly flew from the northern Italian border city of Trieste before being taken to firing positions above Sarajevo. Gavazzeni, who writes on terrorism and the mafia, says past reports suggested different rates were charged to shoot men, women, or children. He now alleges that “many” people took part, “at least a hundred” in total, with Italians paying up to €100,000 in today’s terms for the experience.

Documentary Rekindles Old Allegations

Gavazzeni says he first saw the claims in Corriere della Sera in the 1990s, but returned to them after the 2022 documentary “Sarajevo Safari” alleged that “human hunters” came from several countries, including the United States, Russia, and Italy.

The film follows earlier footage from 1992 showing late Russian nationalist writer Eduard Limonov firing a heavy machine gun into Sarajevo while being guided by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, later convicted of genocide in The Hague.

The Milan probe is now trying to identify potential witnesses and any Italians directly involved.

Competing Accounts From Foreign Soldiers

Former British soldiers who served in and around Sarajevo during the conflict told the BBC they never encountered “sniper tourism” at the time.

They argued that bringing paying civilians through multiple checkpoints to front-line positions would have been “logistically difficult to accomplish.”

One described the notion of foreigners paying to shoot at besieged civilians as an “urban myth,” highlighting the evidentiary challenge facing Italian prosecutors three decades after the events.