Sarajevo, 1990s. A city under siege, civilians targeted… and visitors from abroad ready to pay to shoot innocent people. A reality so terrible that it seems like something out of a movie. We’ll explain it to you.
Recent surveys in Italy reveal that a macabre war tourism would have existed during the siege of Sarajevo: rich men, who left “hunt” civilians disarmed for the thrill. A look back at a long-hidden scandal.
When war becomes “extreme leisure”
Between April 1992 and February 1996Sarajevo experienced the longest siege in modern Europe. The hills around the town, controlled by Bosnian Serb forces, became deadly shooting points. The main avenue, Meša Selimović Boulevard, was given the nickname “Sniper Alley.” It was an obligatory passage for civilians, which made it an ideal target for snipers. It is estimated that more than 11,000 dead civilians killed only by sniper fire during this siege.
Several decades after the events, Italian investigations reveal an even more chilling reality. Western tourists would have paid between 80,000 and 100,000 € to be taken to the hills of Sarajevo and shoot civilians, as if they were a hunting safari. The motive behind this act? Not political, not ideological, but adrenaline. Weapons enthusiasts, hunting enthusiasts or thrill-seekers, who came to experience “battlefield experience“. A complaint, documented over 17 pages, denounces a price “at the head” of the victims : a child would cost more than an adult, an elderly person could even be killed for free.
Also read: 4 war crimes or genocides that gave rise to a trial
What about the Sarajevo Safari investigation?
The complaint was initiated by the journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni, supported by the former Italian magistrate Guido Salvini and the ex-mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic. These accusations, already mentioned for several years and explored in the documentary Sarajevo Safari (2023) by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic recount these extremely serious facts. But compiling evidence after so many years is complex. Some files are still inaccessible, archives scattered, and the parties involved are dead or difficult to locate. The alleged crime dates back more than thirty years. Suffice it to say that the road to justice is still long.
Journalist Gavazzeni emphasizes thatBosnian justice has long hesitated to prosecute these individualsdue to the complexity of investigating in a country still deeply marked by war and internal divisions. On the Serbian side, some magistrates qualify these stories as “ urban legend “. Faced with these obstaclesthe complaint was therefore filed in Italy. Italian prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis has already identified several witnesses to question. Gavazzeni estimates that around a hundred of these “tourists” went to Sarajevo. However, he doubts that more than ten could be formally identified by the courts.
“Human safaris” in Sarajevo: when you think you have read everything in terms of horror, well no. https://t.co/5aXcZHv3UF
— Anna Kubišta (@AnnaKubista) November 12, 2025
What is the profile of these “hunters”?
The investigation, carried out by the Milan public prosecutor’s office, primarily targets Italian nationals from the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont andt Triveneto. But other nationalities would also be affected. According to Gavazzeniit would be wealthy and socially respected people, mainly businessmen. During the siege of Sarajevo, they allegedly financed the assassinations of unarmed civilians. “ They left Trieste to take part in a real manhunt, before returning to their normal lives”he reports in La Repubblica. Among the suspects: a plastic surgeon from Milan, owner of a clinic, as well as residents of Turin and Trieste. These “war tourists” would have been escorted from Trieste to Belgrade, then to Sarajevo. All this with organized logistics on a large scale.
