TL:DR – Elderly Man Interviewed About ‘Human Safari’ Hunting Tours in Sarajevo
- An 80-year-old Italian man was arrested for allegedly facilitating the shooting of civilians in Sarajevo during the 1990s.
- Prosecutors in Milan investigate ‘war tourism’, where Italian tourists paid to kill Bosnians, including children.
- The suspects, linked to far-right groups, reportedly shot from rooftops, claiming to ‘hunt men’.
- Over 100 ‘tourists’ may testify, as Sarajevo’s siege resulted in 13,952 deaths, prompting a renewed call for accountability in dark chapters of wartime ‘murder tourism’.
Man in his 80s is quizzed over ‘human safari’ hunting trips in Sarajevo | News World
**Prosecutors Investigate War Crimes in Sarajevo**
An 80-year-old Italian man has been arrested on suspicion of paying money to shoot fleeing residents of Sarajevo in the 1990s.
In November, prosecutors in Milan opened an investigation into Italian tourists accused of paying £70,000 to join the ‘human safari’, shooting and killing innocent Bosnians.
Italian Tourists and Sniper Activities
Prosecutors allege these ‘tourists’, many of whom had ties to far-right circles, paid the Bosnian Serb army for weekend trips to Sarajevo, where they shot from rooftops at the city below. They paid an additional fee to kill children with sniper rifles, according to the court filing.
The elderly man, a retired truck driver living near Italy’s border with Slovenia, was arrested after boasting of ‘hunting men’ in the Balkan city. When police searched his home, they found legally owned handguns, a rifle, and multiple shotguns. The man has been accused by prosecutors of ‘causing the deaths of defenceless civilians, including women, the elderly, and children, by firing sniper rifles from the hills surrounding the city of Sarajevo’.
**The Horrors of Sniper Alley**
There could be more than 100 ‘tourists’ who jetted off to the warzone and may be called to give evidence in the trial as prosecutors continue to gather evidence. The shooting in the city was so rampant that two main streets, Ulica Zmaja od Bosne and Meša Selimović Boulevard, were dubbed ‘sniper alley’.
During the siege, Sarajevo’s electric, gas, and water supplies were cut off – leaving those within the city with no access to vital infrastructure. Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, Stanislav Galic, were both found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Hague over the attack. Both were eventually handed life sentences. Karadzic is serving his sentence in the UK, while Galic was taken to Germany. The siege ended in 1995, leaving 13,952 people dead, of which 5,434 were civilians.
**Evidence of International Involvement in ‘Murder Tourism’**
Witness statements collected by journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni indicate that UK citizens may have also taken part in the ‘murder tourism’. He revealed to El Mundo that wealthy clients traveled from countries including the UK, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, the US, and Canada.
These individuals paid to kill children, adults, and the elderly – for sport – hiding in the hills surrounding the Bosnian capital. ‘I was surprised when the rumours circulated about what was happening in Sarajevo without anyone investigating it further,’ Gavazzeni said. He added, ‘My hope is that a domino effect will occur, among other things, because I have been the only one to initiate criminal proceedings in a Western country. Why did no country ever open an investigation? Perhaps because they are powerful, wealthy, and socially influential people.’