Khaberni - The public prosecutor in Milan has opened an investigation into a group of wealthy Italian tourists, who are alleged to have paid between 70 and 88 thousand British pounds to participate in human hunting trips during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, with additional fees if they wanted to kill children.
These foreigners, who according to investigations belong to extreme right-wing circles, traveled to the besieged city for what is known as "sniper tourism," where they paid money to members of the Bosnian Serb army with the aim of targeting civilians in a bloody scene considered a live-action massacre film, according to a Daily Mail report.
Between 1992 and 1996, more than 10,000 people were killed in Sarajevo due to shelling and sniper fire, in the longest siege of a capital in the history of modern warfare. According to investigations, the tourists were transported to the hills surrounding the city to aim their weapons at passers-by, while streets like Mischa Selimovich Street, the main road leading to the Sarajevo airport, became known as "Sniper Alley" due to the daily risks faced by the residents.
The evidence, also featured in the documentary film Sarajevo Safari by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic, reveals that participants paid money to the forces of Radovan Karadzic, the Serbian leader who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity. It is believed that the number of these tourists reached about 100 people, including businessmen from Milan, Turin, and Trieste, who considered the siege an opportunity for the "sport" of shooting civilians.
The investigation is based on testimonies from victims, Bosnian and Slovenian intelligence officers, and a firefighter injured during the attacks, in addition to information that the Italian intelligence was aware of Italians involved in "sniper tourism" since 1993.
The Bosnian consul in Milan, Dag Domroxitch, told La Repubblica newspaper that Italy had "full cooperation" from his government, emphasizing the importance of holding the responsible accountable and confronting past crimes, saying: "We seek to reveal the truth of this harsh case and settle scores with the past, and I will contribute with the available information in the investigation."
