Investigations into the so-called “human safaris“ or “sniper tourism“ during the siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996) are growing on a large scale in Europe, Al Jazeera reported.
The case gained serious legal momentum after prosecutors in several European countries officially launched criminal proceedings.
According to the testimonies collected, wealthy foreigners paid huge sums (between 80,000 and 100,000 euros in today's money) to be allowed into Serbian military positions in the hills around Sarajevo. From there, they fired snipers at defenseless civilians, the BBC reports.
Investigative journalists reveal the existence of a “price list”. The price for a shot or kill varied depending on the target, with the highest charges being for shooting children and young women.
It is alleged that the “tourists” gathered in Trieste (Italy), from where they traveled to Belgrade (Serbia), and were then escorted by Serbian soldiers to positions around the besieged city.
The Milan prosecutor's office first launched an official investigation under the leadership of the anti-terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobis. The charges are for premeditated murder with cruelty. There is already a first official suspect – An 80-year-old former truck driver from the Veneto region.
The Ministry of Justice in Vienna confirmed that prosecutors are officially investigating two Austrian citizens for involvement in these crimes.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office has also joined the investigation, checking evidence of the participation of Belgian citizens in the sinister “weekend excursions“.
The documentary film by Slovenian director Miran Zupanić “Sarajevo Safari“ (2022) for the first time brought to light eyewitness accounts, including a former Bosnian military intelligence officer.
Italian journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni provided Milan prosecutors with a 17-page dossier of documents and testimony collected over three decades, legally unsealing the case.
Sarajevo City Council voted to formally join Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital as a party to criminal proceedings abroad to help find justice for more than 11,000 civilians killed during the siege.
Because the crimes were committed more than 30 years ago, some of the acts may be time-barred under national laws. Prosecutors, however, are trying to classify them as crimes against humanity, for which there is no statute of limitations.
The case caused a stir after a Croatian investigative journalist filed a complaint in Milan, trying to implicate Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (who worked as a journalist in Pale during the war). Serbian authorities have strongly denied this, describing the accusations as “malicious disinformation“.
Some former foreign military personnel (for example, from the British special forces) express skepticism and consider the story an “urban legend”, but prosecutors in Italy, Austria and Belgium are taking the evidence seriously enough to proceed with legal action.