Prosecutors in Milan have launched an investigation into allegations that Italian citizens paid large sums of money to join Serbian militias as “weekend snipers” during the 1993–1995 Siege of Sarajevo, when more than 11,000 civilians were killed. The revelations were reported Monday by Il Giorno and la Repubblica.
According to the reports, a group of far-right weapons enthusiasts allegedly left Italy and traveled to Bosnia, where they paid to take part in the siege, shooting at residents of the besieged capital “for fun.” The probe, led by Prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis, focuses on charges of premeditated murder aggravated by cruelty and vile motives.
The case originated from a criminal complaint filed by journalist and author Ezio Gavazzeni, assisted by attorneys Nicola Brigida and Guido Salvini, a former Milan magistrate. The investigation, currently directed against unidentified suspects, aims to establish the identities of Italians who allegedly took part in the atrocities.
Testimonies gathered from across northern Italy suggest that the so-called “weekend snipers,” many with links to extremist circles, assembled in Trieste before being transported to the hills overlooking Sarajevo. There, they reportedly joined Bosnian Serb forces loyal to Radovan Karadžić, paying for the opportunity to shoot at civilians.
A document submitted by former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karić to Milan prosecutors also refers to “wealthy foreigners engaged in inhumane activities.” Investigators are now examining this evidence and materials cited in Gavazzeni’s filing, dated January 28. The Carabinieri ROS special operations unit has been tasked with conducting the inquiry, which may include witness interviews and requests for international legal cooperation.
Gavazzeni told investigators that “these are still leads,” but noted that reports mentioned a “price list” for killings: “Children cost more, followed by men—preferably in uniform—then women. The elderly could be killed for free.”
The writer referenced the 2022 documentary Sarajevo Safari by Slovenian director Miran Zupanič, which first exposed claims of “war tourism” during the Bosnian conflict. The film includes the testimony of an anonymous witness who described foreigners paying to participate in sniper operations.
Sources cited in the complaint also point to participants from the United States, Canada, and Russia, as well as Italy. The clients were allegedly “wealthy individuals who could afford such an adrenaline-fueled experience,” according to a former Bosnian intelligence officer, who said the Serbian State Security Service and the former charter airline Aviogenex were involved in facilitating the trips. Convicted war criminal Jovica Stanišić, a former Serbian intelligence chief, was allegedly a key figure behind the logistics.
The report also cites testimony from John Jordan, an American firefighter who volunteered in Sarajevo during the war. Testifying before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2007, Jordan said he repeatedly saw “people who didn’t seem local” being guided by Serbs and handling unfamiliar weapons — “as if they were tourists on a shooting trip.”
Meanwhile, Milan’s Casa della Memoria is hosting an exhibition titled Shooting in Sarajevo, marking 30 years since the siege and renewing public interest in one of Europe’s darkest wartime chapters.
If confirmed, the Milan investigation could shed new light on a disturbing episode of the Bosnian conflict — one in which killing became a macabre form of leisure for those who could afford it.
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