Wealthy foreigners pay tens of thousands of pounds to become He was described as a “weekend sniper” and shot civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. This follows allegations that are being investigated by Italian authorities.
It is investigating allegations that gun enthusiasts and far-right extremists traveled to the war-torn city in the 1990s with sniper rifles to exterminate terrified Bosnians. “For fun”
Foreigners from Italy, the United States, Russia and elsewhere have been accused of paying Serbian forces to take part in shootings during the Bosnian war.
They were accused of being motivated by sympathy for the Serbian cause. Or true bloodlust or a combination of both Investigators said
Serbia has rejected the claims.
But Italian witnesses and investigators claim there is even a price list for targeted killings. Foreigners will pay more to shoot children and men who are armed and in uniform.
Amateur shooters pay in modern times €80,000 to €100,000 (average £80,000) to take part in the chilling ‘sport’. According to the newspaper La Repubblica
UN soldiers give sweets to children In Sarajevo during the siege – JOEL ROBINE/AFP/Getty Images
Italians are said to have gathered in the northeastern border town of Trieste. and were sent to the hills around Sarajevo during the 1992-1996 siege of the city.
The battle, in which more than 11,500 people died, is considered the longest battle in modern European history. It surpassed Germany’s 872-day siege of Leningrad in World War II.
“Tourists in war” of various nationalities including Americans and Russians It is alleged that permission was given to shoot civilians by Bosnian Serb armed forces under the orders of warlord Radovan Karadzic.
Prosecutors in Milan are trying to identify Italians accused of involvement in the killings. and may be prosecuted for “Voluntary murder aggravated by cruelty and deplorable intent.”
Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader during the war Convicted of war crimes in 2016 and currently serving a prison sentence in England – Runko Cukovic/Reuters
They are being assisted by officers from the Carabinieri police specialist unit, known as Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, which fights terrorism and organized crime.
Similar claims have been made in the past. But now it has appeared again. Because of the official legal case of Benjamina Karic, former mayor of Sarajevo. “With an unknown person”
“An entire tireless team is fighting to have these complaints heard,” she told Anza. Italian national news agency
The case was brought by Ezio Gavazceni, an Italian journalist and author. It was backed by two lawyers and a former judge.
“The price tag for these killings: Children pay a higher price than men. Especially uniformed and armed women and, finally, elderly people who can be killed for free,” Mr. Gavazceni said.
The Siege of Saravejo cost more than 11,500 lives – Getty Images
Mr. Gavazzeni went on to say that he was shocked to think that wealthy, middle-class Italians would travel to Bosnia and pay to kill human beings for sport.
“They leave Trieste to hunt, then they go home and live their normal lives. They are respected in the opinion of those who know them,” he said.
Foreigners traveling to Sarajevo to attack civilians “Playing God and still not being punished,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.
The killing was reported to have taken place with the knowledge of Serbian intelligence services.
Prosecutors will examine the testimony of a former Bosnian intelligence official who gathered information about accused snipers over the weekend from captured Serb soldiers.
Horrified civilians watch bombs fall during the siege of Sarajevo – Antoine GYORI/Sygma via Getty Images
Former spy Edin Subasic said during the investigation The Serb said Italians paid to fire sniper rifles on the front line.
John Jordan, former United States Marine Testifying to the UN-led Special International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2007, “tourist gunmen” traveled to Sarajevo to shoot civilians for their own gratification.
He said he had seen a foreigner. He “appeared with a weapon that looked more suitable for hunting wild boars in the Black Forest than fighting in a city in the Balkans,” adding that the person used the weapon like a “novice.”
It is reported that the presence of The “weekend sniper” was confirmed at the time by the Italian intelligence agency SISMI.
A mass grave discovered in a village 185 miles north of Sarajevo – ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images
Tim Judah, an experienced British expert on the Balkans said he thought it was possible foreigners paid to shoot Sarajevo residents. But the number of people probably isn’t that many.
“From 1992 to 1995 I spent a lot of time in Pale, which was the headquarters of the Bosnian Serb armed forces. And I haven’t heard anything about it,” he told The Telegraph.
“We did not notice any strange foreigners appearing. There were some Russians and Greeks but they were fighting on the Serb side as volunteer soldiers.
“I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. It is possible that someone is paying to do this. But I didn’t think the number would be this big.”
Momo and Uzeir Towers in Saravejo Fire in 1992 – Getty Images
There is one well-known documented case of foreigners shooting civilians from the hills around Sarajevo.
Russian nationalist Eduard Limonov was filmed in 1992 firing a machine gun into a besieged city.
He was accompanied by Karadzic, who was later convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War.
Limonov died in Moscow in 2020 at the age of 77.
Documentary “Sarajevo Safari” produced in 2022 by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic. Similar allegations have been made about foreigners who have started “Weekend War Safari”
Russian nationalist Eduard Limonov (C) was a staunch supporter of Serbia during the war. and filmed the shooting of weapons into Sarajevo in 1992 – Vladimir Novikov
One unnamed former American intelligence officer said he saw tourists pay to shoot civilians.
“I was in Grbavica (a district of Sarajevo) where I saw how strangers came to shoot Sarajevo residents who were surrounded by some money,” the former intelligence officer says in the film.
Mr Zupanik told news website Balkan Insight that he struggled to believe the claims about “Human safari” when I first heard it.
“My reaction was that such a thing is impossible – hunting people is a myth, an urban legend. I definitely worry about people paying money to be able to shoot other people. That knowledge is intolerable.”
The documentary provoked an angry response from Bosnian Serbs. Veljko Lazic, the head of a veterans organization, called it “It is a terrible and absolute lie.”
He said the documentary was “an insult to the Republika Srpska (ethnic Serb group that makes up half of Bosnia-Herzegovina), the country’s military. and the Serbs who were victims of the war.”
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