Milan prosecutors have opened an inquiry into allegations that wealthy Italians paid to shoot civilians in Sarajevo during the 1990s war.
A seventeen page complaint cites testimony from intelligence officers, victims, and officials who say foreign “tourist shooters” operated from Serb held positions.
Investigators are reviewing witness lists, travel records, and archived intelligence files as they work to identify potential suspects.
Italy Opens Inquiry into Allegations That Wealthy Rightwing Italians Paid to Kill Civilians in Sarajevo
Italian prosecutors examine claims that wealthy citizens paid to join sniper attacks during the siege of Sarajevo.
Summary
The Milan Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into legal complaints that wealthy rightwing Italians allegedly paid to kill civilians during the 1990s. According to the complaint, wealthy Italians were flown from Italy to Bosnia during the war, where they paid to fire on residents in Sarajevo.
The seventeen-page complaint was filed by writer and journalist Ezio Gavazzeni. It is supported by former magistrate Guido Salvini and by Benjamina Karic, who served as mayor of Sarajevo from 2021 to 2024. Karic has gathered testimony and documents on rumors that circulated for years and resurfaced in 2023 after the release of Sarajevo Safari, a documentary by Slovenian filmmaker Miran Zupanic that suggested wealthy foreigners may have paid to shoot at people in the besieged city.
According to the complaint, the alleged shooters were ordinary citizens with far right ties and a passion for weapons. They are said to have flown from Trieste to Belgrade on the Serbian airline Aviogenex, then traveled to sniper positions above the city.
Investigators are working with early estimates that participants paid between eighty thousand and one hundred thousand euros for these trips. Shooting a child allegedly cost more. Names mentioned include a Milan clinic owner and individuals from Turin and Trieste.
Gavazzeni told Italian media that the Bosnian Attorney General’s Office shelved an earlier investigation, citing the difficulty of pursuing such a case in a country still divided by war. He said Serbian authorities have dismissed the story as an urban legend. He argues that Italy has jurisdiction because the alleged shooters lived quiet, respectable lives there while hiding a past of extreme violence.
Prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis has compiled a list of witnesses and plans to call them. Gavazzeni believes as many as one hundred people may have taken part and hopes investigators can identify at least several of them.
One key witness is a Bosnian intelligence officer identified as E. S., who says Italian intelligence personnel stationed in Sarajevo were informed in 1993 about the presence of Italian civilians in the hills. He claims these civilians were escorted to sniper positions and allowed to fire at residents.
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The complaint also cites a Slovenian intelligence official, several victims, and a wounded firefighter who testified during Slobodan Milosevic’s trial in The Hague about foreign “tourist shooters” whose clothing and weapons stood out from regular Serb units.
Bosnia’s consul in Milan, Dag Dumrukcic, has pledged full cooperation, saying his government wants the truth about a crime of such cruelty and intends to share any information it holds.
The case also recalls earlier controversies, including footage of Russian writer Eduard Limonov visiting positions above Sarajevo with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, where he was shown how snipers operated and was filmed firing a machine gun toward the city.
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