an investigation was opened in Italy into “war tourist” snipers during the Bosnian war

Nearly 30 years after the agreement that ended the Bosnian war, the Milan prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against X for “aggravated intentional homicide.” These attacks targeted foreign nationals, who were suspected of paying Serbian soldiers to go and shoot civilians, at the weekend, during the siege of Sarajevo.

Nearly 30 years after the end of the Bosnian War, investigations in Italy are bringing us back to the horrors of the siege of Sarajevo. The Milan prosecutor’s office is trying to identify Italians suspected of taking part in the massacre of civilians during the siege of the city and engaging in what the former mayor of Sarajevo described as irresponsible actions. “safari”targeting men, women and children. Sarajevo Safaris is also the title of the documentary that convinced the former mayor to forget the past and take legal action in the “war tourist” case. We’re talking about dozens, if not hundreds of foreign visitors who would pay Serbian troops for the right to go and fight on weekends, and even replace snipers to shoot civilians from the hills around Sarajevo.

After the initial complaint was filed in Bosnia, the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, contacted an Italian journalist to ask about the traces of the participants in this horrific operation. Ezio Gavanezzi started investigating and he explained it every day La Republic, that at least a hundred of them “weekend sniper” will be Italian. According to him, they were right-wing sympathizers, fond of guns and rich people, who met in Trieste, in northern Italy, before being led by Serbian militia to their positions, on the heights of Sarajevo. For the equivalent of 100,000 euros per day, these “war tourists” can spend a weekend in the hills among soldiers, and get the privilege of sitting behind a sniper’s rifle to shoot civilians in a besieged city.

These accusations seemed credible enough to convince Milan prosecutors to open an investigation into “aggravated intentional homicide.” These elements were added to the testimonies that had accumulated over the years about the presence of “visitors” on the Serbian trail. Journalists observed this visually and images from the time confirm this. A surprising archive even shows former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic welcoming among his troops the Russian writer Edouard Limonov, who became famous in France through Emmanuel Carrère’s books. The discussion was filmed. We see Limonov poised behind a machine gun in firing position, from a hilltop where snipers have been active for four years. The Siege of Sarajevo was the longest in modern history and resulted in the deaths of at least 11,000 civilians.