They Allegedly Paid to Shoot People in Besieged Sarajevo. Milan Investigates the "Weekend Snipers" Case After 30 Years

The Milan public prosecutor's office is investigating one of the most chilling stories of the war in Bosnia: according to a criminal complaint, wealthy foreigners, including Italians, allegedly paid large sums during the siege of Sarajevo for the opportunity to "hunt" unarmed civilians from the hills above the city. The act is being investigated as premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances of cruelty and base motives — and in Italy, it carries no statute of limitations. After three decades of silence, prosecutors from several countries are set to meet on the case at the European agency Eurojust on June 22.

How the "safari" allegedly worked

According to the investigative book "I cecchini del weekend" ("The Weekend Snipers") by Italian writer and journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, from which the complaint originated, interested parties would gather in northern Italy and travel via the Serbian airline Aviogenex to Belgrade, and from there to the hills surrounding Sarajevo. Editoriale Domani ↗

According to the reconstruction, a single "expedition" cost, converted into today's money, roughly tens of thousands up to around one hundred thousand euros, with organizers charging the highest sums for shooting children. The money was allegedly meant to go to units of the Bosnian Serb army loyal to Radovan Karadžić. These details currently stem from the reconstruction by investigators and witnesses, not from a final court verdict. Al Jazeera ↗

Investigation after three decades

The file in Milan is being led by prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis; the complaint was filed by Gavazzeni together with lawyer Nicola Brigido and former judge Guido Salvini. Investigators have several Italian suspects on record — Italian media report four. The first was summoned by the prosecutor's office for questioning in early February, the second was questioned in mid-April — the latter stated that he knew about the trips but had nothing to do with them. ANSA ↗

The profile of the suspects varies among sources for now — ranging from an elderly retiree from the northeast of the country to men from circles close to the far right in Milan, Turin, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Precisely because the act carries no statute of limitations and carries a possible life sentence, the case could still reach trial even after 30 years. Sky TG24 ↗

Why it is opening up only now

The image of "armed tourists" is not new. Already in 2022, Slovenian director Miran Zupanič brought testimonies about this phenomenon in the film "Sarajevo Safari"; both Bosnian military intelligence and the Italian secret services reportedly had signals about the trips as early as 1993–1994. What is new is the pressure from Italian justice and its European dimension: on June 22, a coordination meeting of prosecutors and investigators from several countries is to be held at Eurojust in The Hague — besides Italy and Bosnia, also from Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium, with Spain also reportedly considering joining — in order to align witnesses and leads. Il Giorno ↗

A reminder of scale: the siege of Sarajevo lasted nearly 1,425 days, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. According to frequently cited figures, more than 11,500 civilians died in it, of whom approximately 1,600 were children. Al Jazeera ↗

What remains uncertain

This is an investigation, not a conviction — the identity of the shooters, the exact number of "expeditions," and the price "tariff" itself are based on testimonies and reconstruction that a court has not yet reviewed. It also remains open whether, after 30 years, procedurally usable evidence can be gathered, and whether cross-border coordination will lead to indictments or the case will once again fall silent.

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