Italy Investigates Allegations of 'Sniper Safaris' During Bosnian War

Wed Nov 12 2025 18:49:07 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A disturbing investigation opens in Milan regarding claims that wealthy tourists paid to shoot at civilians in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. The allegations shed light on a dark chapter of the conflict, raising questions about accountability and justice.

The Milan prosecutor's office has begun an investigation into allegations of Italians and others participating in 'sniper safaris' in Bosnia, where they reportedly paid to shoot civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. The claims stem from a complaint by journalist Ezio Gavazzeni and suggest that different fees were charged based on the target's gender and age. This investigation could lead to serious implications, as reports indicate that these actions amounted to murder.

The public prosecutor's office in Milan has opened an investigation into claims that Italian citizens travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on sniper safaris during the war in the early 1990s.

Italians and others are alleged to have paid large sums to shoot at civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo.

The Milan complaint was filed by journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni, who describes 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.

Different rates were charged to kill men, women or children, according to some reports.

More than 11,000 people died during the brutal four-year siege of Sarajevo.

Yugoslavia was torn apart by war and the city was surrounded by Serb forces and subjected to constant shelling and sniper fire.

Similar allegations about human hunters from abroad have been made several times over the years, but the evidence gathered by Gavazzeni, which includes the testimony of a Bosnian military intelligence officer, is now being examined by Italian counter-terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis.

The charge is murder.

The Bosnian officer apparently revealed that his Bosnian colleagues found out about the so-called safaris in late 1993 and then passed on the information to Italy's Sismi military intelligence in early 1994.

The response from Sismi came a couple of months later. They found out that safari tourists would fly from the northern Italian border city of Trieste and then travel to the hills above Sarajevo.

Gavazzeni, who typically writes about terrorism and the mafia, had first read about the sniper tours to Sarajevo three decades ago in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, but without firm evidence.

Upon revisiting the subject after viewing the documentary Sarajevo Safari, he compiled a 17-page file of findings for prosecutors, including a report by former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic.

An investigation in Bosnia itself appears to have stalled, with Gavazzeni alleging that many participated in the practice, estimating at least a hundred individuals, some reportedly paying up to €100,000 (£88,000) for the opportunity.

In 1992, a late Russian nationalist writer Eduard Limonov was filmed firing at Sarajevo from a machine gun, expressing admiration for Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, later convicted of genocide.

Reports suggest that Milan prosecutors have already created a witness list as they aim to determine who was involved in these shocking allegations and have gained significant public interest.