Italy investigates suspicion that tourists paid to shoot civilians in Sarajevo during Bosnian war

image source, AP Photo/Jerome Delay

photo caption, During the Bosnian war, civilians risked their lives to cross Sarajevo’s main streets.

- author, sarah rainford
- author title, Eastern and Southern Europe correspondent
November 12, 2025

The Milan public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into charges relating to an Italian national who allegedly traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina on a “sniper safari” during the war in the early 1990s.

The complaint alleges that Italians and other nationalities were paid large sums of money to shoot civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo.

The complaint was filed by journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni, who described a “manhunt” carried out by a “very rich man” with a passion for weapons.

Gavanezi claims he was “paid to be able to kill defenseless civilians” from Serbian military positions in the hills surrounding Sarajevo.

Some reports stated that different charges were imposed for killing men, women, and children.

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

Yugoslavia was devastated by war, with cities besieged by Serb forces and subjected to constant bombing and sniping.

Several similar accusations have surfaced over the years about suspected foreign “people hunters.”

Evidence collected by Gavazzeni, including testimony from Bosnian military intelligence officers, is being investigated by Italy’s anti-terrorism public prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis.

Civilians in Sarajevo pass through an area besieged by snipers in 1992. — photo caption, More than 11,000 civilians died during the three-year siege of Sarajevo.

“We’ve put an end to this.”

The officer revealed that a Bosnian colleague learned about the alleged safari in late 1993 and reported the information to Sismi, Italian military intelligence, in early 1994.

A reply from Sisumi came several months later. They discovered that the tourists on the safari arrived by plane from the northern Italian border city of Trieste, and then traveled to the hilly region near Sarajevo.

“We have put an end to this issue and there will be no more safaris,” they told officers. Within a few months, the travel stopped.

Ezio Gavazzeni, who frequently writes about terrorism and the mafia, first read about the sniper’s journey to Sarajevo in an Italian newspaper 30 years ago. Corriere della Sera Even though there was no conclusive evidence, they made the news.

He returned to the topic after watching the 2022 documentary film “Sarajevo Safari” by Slovenian director Milan Zupanic. The documentary claims that those involved in the murders were from multiple countries, including the United States, Russia, and Italy.

Gavazzeni thoroughly investigated the investigation and submitted his findings to the public prosecutor’s office in February, consisting of a 17-page file that included a report by former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Kalik.

However, the investigation in Bosnia appears to have stalled.

A woman runs through the streets of central Sarajevo on August 4, 1993. — photo caption, Snipers were shooting civilians from Bosnia’s Serb-controlled area overlooking Sarajevo.

“At least a hundred.”

In a statement to an Italian newspaper republicGavazzeni claims that “many” took part in the practice, “at least 100 people” in total, and that Italians paid “huge amounts of money” for it, up to US$116,000 (approximately €100,000).

In 1992, the late Russian nationalist writer and politician Eduard Limonov was recorded charging into Sarajevo with a heavy machine gun.

He had been shown his position on the slope by Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian Serb leader who was later convicted of genocide by the International Tribunal in The Hague.

However, Limonov did not pay for “war tourism”. He was there as a fan of Mr. Karadzic, whom he calls the “Butcher of Bosnia.” “We Russians should follow his example,” he said.

News that the Milan public prosecutor’s office had opened this investigation was announced in July. Il Giornale Italians pretended to be on a humanitarian mission and announced they had arrived in the mountains in a van, paying exorbitant bribes to get through security checks.

After a weekend of shootings in the conflict zone, they had returned to their hometowns to restart their lives.

Gavazzeni described his actions as “indifference to evil”.

Prosecutors and police are said to have identified multiple witnesses as they try to determine who may be involved.