Rich foreigners are alleged to have paid a substantial sum of £70,000 for disturbing “human safari” excursions where they participated in shooting and killing innocent civilians. Italian prosecutors have initiated an investigation into claims that affluent individuals, including some Italian citizens, engaged in these appalling “sniper tourism” trips in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the brutal 1990s war.
The city of Sarajevo endured a harrowing four-year siege, resulting in over 11,000 deaths from sniper attacks and shelling between 1992 and 1996. Disturbing allegations surfaced in a Milan court, accusing wealthy visitors, purportedly linked to far-right factions, of flying from Trieste to Belgrade on the Serbian airline Aviogenex. These individuals allegedly proceeded to the hills surrounding Sarajevo, targeting defenseless civilians from Serbian positions.
Referred to as “human hunters,” these tourists reportedly paid between £70,000 and £88,000 to partake in weekend sniper activities, aiming at vulnerable Bosnians already ravaged by the war. Different rates were allegedly imposed based on the age and gender of the targets, with children supposedly commanding higher fees according to some reports.
The shocking revelations emerged after Italian journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, with the assistance of former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic, submitted a 17-page complaint to the courts. These tourists are accused of funneling significant amounts of money to Radovan Karadžić, the former Bosnian Serb leader infamous for his war crimes during the Bosnian conflict.
Gavazzeni claims that approximately 100 affluent tourists engaged in these hunting expeditions as a leisure activity, devoid of political or religious motives. The investigative journalist highlighted the involvement of wealthy individuals, including businessmen, who paid to partake in these fatal activities during the Sarajevo siege before returning to their normal lives.
Allegedly, a Bosnian intelligence officer, one of Gavazzeni’s key sources, disclosed that Italian intelligence agencies possessed information on these allegations as early as 1993. The journalist also mentioned having multiple witnesses prepared to testify in court. The investigation into these distressing claims was spurred by a 2022 documentary titled “Sarajevo Safari” by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic, following earlier reports in the Italian media during the 1990s.
The Bosnian consul in Milan, Dag Dumrukcic, expressed his country’s full cooperation with Italy’s efforts to uncover the truth behind these heinous acts, emphasizing the importance of addressing such atrocities from the past. Dumrukcic confirmed his readiness to contribute valuable information to the ongoing investigation.
