Italian authorities have opened an investigation in Milan to determine whether claims of Italian tourists paying money to shoot civilians in Bosnia are true.
Citizens of multiple countries, including Italy, are at the center of explosive claims that state that they paid huge amounts to travel to Sarajevo to shoot at civilians in “sniper safaris” in the 1990s.
Milan’s public prosecutor office opened an investigation into the claims on the complaint of journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni who says there was a “manhunt” by “very wealthy people” with a passion for weapons who “paid to be able to kill defenceless civilians” from Serb positions in the hills around Sarajevo.
Reports have claimed that different rates were charged for killing children, men and women. More than 11,000 civilians were killed in the siege of Sarajevo by Serb forces.
Although the allegations are not new, Gavazzeni has reportedly gathered extensive, including intelligence from Bosnian officers.
Italy’s counter-terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis will investigate the murder charges.
A Bosnian intelligence officer told the journalist that in 1994, Bosnia passed on the information to Italy’s military intelligence.
Italy’s military intelligence then told the Bosnians that citizens were indeed travelling from the border city of Triesto to the hills surrounding Sarajevo. “We’ve put a stop to it and there won’t be any more safaris,” the officer reportedly told the Bosnians.
‘Sarajevo Safari’, a documentary film made in 2022, alleges that the killer tourists came from a host or different countries, including USSR and USA.
Gavazzeni alleges that many people took part in the practice, “at least a hundred” in all, with Italians paying up to €100,000 (£88,000) in today’s terms.
Italian prosecutors have compiled a list of witnesses to talk to.