Prosecutor’s investigation in Milan against Italian “tourist-snipers” who were paid to kill Bosnian civilians “for fun” during the siege of Sarajevo in 1993 – 1995.
The Italians reportedly paid huge sums of money to Serbian militia to make them happen “sniper for a weekend” killing “for fun” Bosnian civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in 1993 – 1995, in which 11,000 people lost their lives, the newspapers “Il Giorno” and “la Repubbica” write on Monday (10.11.2025).
The mostly far-right gun fanatics allegedly fled Italy, paying “huge” sums to Serbian soldiers to take part in the siege of Sarajevo and shoot civilians in the Bosnian capital “for fun” during the war, the two newspapers said.
To identify these “war tourists”, an investigation is underway in Milan with the aim of identifying those who participated in the massacre.
The case – which “Il Giornale” had already reported in July – was initiated by the public prosecutor Alessandro Gobis on the charge of intentional homicide characterized by cruelty and shameful motives.
Charges are currently pending against unidentified individuals, based on a complaint filed by the journalist and author Such a Gavacheniwith the help of two lawyers and the former judge Guido Salvini.
“Snipers for a Weekend”
According to accounts gathered from across northern Italy, these “weekend snipers”, mostly far-right gun enthusiasts, would gather in Trieste and then be taken to the hills around Sarajevo, where they could shoot the besieged city’s population after paying off Bosnian Serb militias. Radovan Karadzic.
The case file also contains a report on these “wealthy foreigners involved in inhumane activities”, which was sent to the Milan Prosecutor’s Office by the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic.
For now, the investigation files only include the documents submitted by the author of the complaint, dated January 28, and in the coming weeks, prosecutor Alessandro Gobis, in charge of the Carabinieri’s special operations unit, will have to investigate, possibly questioning the people the author pointed out.
For now, the editor explains, “this is just ‘info’, but apparently there was also “a price tag for these killings: children cost more than men (preferably uniformed and armed), women and finally the elderly, who could be killed for free».
The editor also refers to the 2022 documentary «Sarajevo Safari» and clarifies that “the director Miran Zupanic he gave us the codes to access the limited screening of the film on his website Al Jazeera and I can supply them to the judge who asks for them.’ The film also includes an “unnamed” witness.
“Some sources talk about Americans, Canadians and Russians, but also Italians, who were willing to pay to play war.” The customers, the former Bosnian 007 said, were “definitely very rich people who could afford such an adrenaline-filled challenge”.
Given the way everything was organized, Bosnian intelligence believed that the Serbian state security service was behind it all.
And with the infrastructure of the former Serbian charter and tourism airline Aviogenex.
THE Jovica Stanisic“convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, played a key role in this service.” According to the complaint, among these sniper tourists were also hunting and gun enthusiasts.
And the “hunting cover served to bring the teams to their destination in Belgrade without suspicion.”
“Tourists – shooters”
According to an excerpt from his deposition John Jordanan American former firefighter who volunteered inside the besieged city of Sarajevo in the 1990s, before the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the trial of the Bosnian Serb army commander, Ratko Mladic“on more than one occasion, I saw people who did not appear to me to be natives because of their dress, the weapons they carried, the way they were treated, managed, and even guided by the natives.
I saw this in Sarajevo on many occasions.” Excerpts from this 2007 deposition – which specifically refers to the so-called “tourist-shooters” who will also be investigated by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office – are also included in the author’s complaint Gavacheni to the prosecutors of Milan.
“It was plainly apparent,” continued the 18-year-old deposition, “that the person being led by men who knew the terrain well he was not at all familiar with the terrain, and his clothes and the weapons he was carrying led me to believe they were tourist snipers». And again: “When a boy shows up with a gun that looks more suited to wild boar hunting in the Black Forest than urban combat in the Balkans… When you see him wield it and realize he’s a novice…”.
At the moment, among other things, a photographic exhibition titled “Shooting in Sarajevo” at the Casa della Memoria in Milan, which is dedicated to the memory of the siege of the city 30 years ago.