Imagine paying large sums of money, so you can hunt defenceless civilians in a war-torn country. Not animals, hunting human beings. For fun. Horrific, right? That’s what is said to have happened during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. Italians and other citizens travelled to the besieged city of Sarajevo, and allegedly paid large sums to Bosnian Serb forces to shoot at defenceless civilians.
A court in Italy opened a probe after journalist Ezio Gavazzeni filed a complaint. He was investigating the allegations of so-called ‘sniper safaris’ held between 1993 and 1995.
Italian tourists would allegedly gather in the northern Italian town of Trieste, and then be taken to the hills surrounding Sarajevo for these ghastly safaris.
High charges to kill children
There were different rates to kill men, women and children.
More money was paid to kill children than women, men in uniform and the armed. The so-called tourists were allowed to kill the elderly for free.
Over 11,000 people died during the brutal four-year-long siege of Sarajevo.
It all came to light after the reporter gathered testimonies from Bosnian military intelligence officers.
The court-ordered investigation seeks to identify wealthy, far-right, gun-lovers who “paid to play war, and kill civilians for fun”.
Apart from Italians, people from Canada, the USA and Russia also reportedly participated in these massacres.
Italian prosecutors and police have identified a list of witnesses as they try to establish who might have been involved.
siege of Sarajevo
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was embroiled in a four-year ethnic war from 1992 to 1996. Soon after they declared independence from Yugoslavia.
The capital, Sarajevo, was repeatedly besieged during the time. Initially, by Serbian forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, and then by the Army of Republika Srpska. An agreement to end the war was signed in 1996.
