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What was sniper tourism during the Sarajevo siege?
Executive summary
Allegations now under probe claim that during the 1992–95 siege of Sarajevo wealthy foreigners paid Bosnian Serb forces to escort them to hillside positions and fire at civilians for sport — a practice described in reporting as “sniper tourism,” “sniper safaris” or “human safaris” [1] [2]. Italian prosecutors in Milan opened a criminal inquiry in November 2025 after a complaint by journalist Ezio Gavazzeni and a dossier from Sarajevo’s former mayor; so far no names have been publicly charged and investigators are working from witness statements, documentary evidence and prior press accounts [3] [2].
1. What the allegation is and where it came from
Reporting describes “sniper tourism” as organised weekend trips in which allegedly wealthy, often foreign, visitors were taken from points such as Trieste to the hills overlooking Sarajevo and paid Bosnian Serb units to let them shoot at civilians below — sometimes with tiered sums reported for killing men, women or children — a claim recirculated after the 2022 documentary Sarajevo Safari and formalised in a 2025 complaint to Milan prosecutors by Ezio Gavazzeni [4] [5] [2].
2. What Italian prosecutors say they are investigating
Milan’s public prosecutor’s office opened an inquiry into the allegations — described as murder aggravated by cruelty in filings introduced by Gavazzeni and collaborators — and is examining witness statements and earlier reporting to determine whether identifiable people committed crimes in Italy or abroad; as of the published coverage, prosecutors have not yet named suspects publicly [3] [2] [6].
3. The scale and price tags being reported
Multiple outlets cite the complaint and prior press claims that individual participants paid large sums to participate: some reports put the price at tens of thousands or up to about €80,000–€100,000 (or roughly $92,800–$116,000) per trip, with some variants of the story alleging additional payments to target children — figures that originate in journalistic reconstructions and the complaint rather than court judgments [4] [7] [8].
4. Corroboration, limits and conflicting testimony
While a range of international news outlets have summarised the complaint and documentary material, some contemporaneous witnesses and foreign military personnel stationed in or near Sarajevo have said they saw no evidence of such tourist snipers at the time; for example, British forces interviewed by the BBC said they did not observe “sniper tourism” during their service [9]. That contrast — between later investigative claims and earlier frontline testimony — is central to assessing evidentiary strength [9].
5. Why this matters historically and legally
If proven, the allegations would add a profoundly disturbing dimension to well-documented crimes of the siege: Sarajevo endured constant shelling and sniper fire, and more than 11,000 people were killed in the city during the war years, with snipers singled out as a key weapon of terror [1] [10]. Legally, criminal responsibility for third-party participants who paid to kill civilians would raise homicide and war-crime questions across jurisdictions, which helps explain why Italian prosecutors are investigating based on filings alleging “murder aggravated by cruelty and despicable motives” [2] [5].
6. Sources, agendas and documentary triggers
The renewed attention follows Miran Zupanič’s Sarajevo Safari [11] and investigative work by Gavazzeni; outlets note that some material first appeared in Italian newspapers in the 1990s and was amplified by later documentary claims [3] [5]. Watch for competing incentives: journalists and filmmakers may spotlight lurid details that prompt legal action, while those accused (not yet publicly identified) and some contemporaneous actors have an interest in denying or downplaying claims [2] [9].
7. What reporting does not yet show
Available sources do not yet provide court rulings, named indictments, or forensic confirmation tying specific deaths in Sarajevo directly to paid foreign “sniper tourists”; the public record in November 2025 consists largely of complaints, documentary claims and investigative reporting rather than completed prosecutions [3] [6]. The scale of participation (how many people, how often) remains reported in estimates drawn from interviews and archival press rather than finalized judicial findings [5] [10].
8. How to follow developments responsibly
Continue watching Milan prosecutor statements and court filings for formal charges or exculpatory evidence; treatment in authoritative outlets such as The Guardian, DW, Al Jazeera and the BBC shows both the allegations and the skepticism from some contemporaneous witnesses, so triangulate new claims against primary legal documents and direct testimonies as they emerge [3] [1] [2] [9].