Italy probes suspect in Sarajevo ‘sniper tourism’ during Bosnia war: Report 

Prosecutors in Italy have placed a man under investigation as part of a probe into alleged “sniper tourism” in Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, the Reuters news agency reports.

Sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the man, the first individual to be identified in the inquiry that began last year, is an 80-year-old former truck driver who lives near the northern Italian town of Pordenone.

Italian prosecutors launched an investigation last year, after it was alleged that foreigners, including nationals from Italy, had travelled to Bosnia and paid large amounts of money to shoot at civilians during the siege of Sarajevo three decades ago.

The grotesque scheme has been referred to as “sniper safaris” in reference to expeditions to hunt animals in the wild, mostly in Africa.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the elderly suspect, who was not named, faces charges of several counts of premeditated murder, according to sources who spoke to the news agency.

The sources did not tell Reuters whether the man is suspected of directly carrying out killings or of helping with transport and logistics for clients. The man, who remains free, has been summoned by prosecutors for questioning on February 9, the sources added.

An estimated 11,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire from Bosnian Serb army positions on hills around Sarajevo city during the 1992-95 war that followed Bosnia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia.

Milan prosecutors opened their investigation into the killing of civilians in the so-called sniper scheme after local journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni filed a legal complaint over allegations that Italians and other foreigners had paid members of Bosnian Serb forces to let them take part in the shooting of people in Sarajevo.

Gavazzeni said he was inspired to look into the allegations after watching the 2022 documentary “Sarajevo Safari” by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic.

A witness cited in Gavazzeni’s complaint said that three men, who are now being investigated, come from the cities of Turin, Milan and Trieste.

According to the Italian publication La Repubblica, “tourists” paid up to 100,000 euros ($116,000), adjusted for current inflation rates and currency change, as the euro was not introduced until 1999, to join trips to Sarajevo to commit the killings.

Gavazzeni claims that participants would be given a price list for the type of kill that foreigners would pay for, including to target children, which cost the most, then men, women and elderly people, who could be killed free of charge.

He said the Italians met in the city of Trieste before travelling to Belgrade, where Bosnian Serb soldiers escorted them to hills overlooking Sarajevo. It is believed that citizens of the United States and Russia also took part in the practice.

In 2007, former US Marine John Jordan testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that “tourist shooters” had come to Sarajevo.

Serbia has denied any involvement in the alleged scheme, but investigators believe that Serbian intelligence services were aware of the tourist trips.

The launch of the Italian investigation in November 2025 raised survivors’ hopes that those responsible would be brought to justice.