More than three decades after the siege of Sarajevo, Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation that could shed light on one of the darkest and most unexplored aspects of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war - the so-called "hobby snipers". These are foreigners who apparently paid to have fun shooting with snipers at civilians in the city besieged by Bosnian Serb forces.
"Tourist snipers"
The investigation into the alleged snipers was launched after a tip-off from Italian journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni, who provided the Milan prosecutor's office with documents and witness statements from years of research. In an interview with N1, Gavazzeni explained that the starting point for his work was the documentary "Sarajevo Safari" by Slovenian director Miran Zupanić, released in 2022.
For now, the investigation is against unknown individuals, but prosecutors in Italy may soon identify specific names. "I had contacts with people, including a member of the Bosnian secret service during the siege of Sarajevo, who told me about groups of Italian "tourist snipers" who came to the mountains around Sarajevo to shoot civilians," says Gavazzeni.
The Milan prosecutor's office has assigned the investigation to the ROS, a special unit of the Carabinieri known for its work on complex international cases. Italy is the first country to launch a judicial investigation into the so-called "hobby snipers".
Testimony of a former secret service officer
Edin Subasic, a former officer in the intelligence service of the Bosnian army, tells in the film "Sarajevo Safari" about the interrogation of a captured Serb in 1993, who confirmed that there were foreign "tourist snipers": "The captured, a 20-year-old young man from the Serbian town of Paračin, stated that he had come to Bosnia with a group of volunteers at the invitation of the (ultranationalist, ed.) Serbian Radical Party".
During the night journey through Serbian-controlled territory, the Serb noticed five foreigners on the bus who apparently had a special status and were particularly well-equipped. Three of them were Italians, one from Milan, and the other two did not reveal their origin, says Subasic. "These men were not paid to fight, they were paid to shoot at civilians - like on a safari, only the targets were people."
Subasic also told Bosnian television channel FTV that during the war he had collected information about Italians who had participated in the shelling of Sarajevo with snipers. "The names of some of the perpetrators have been revealed, and further investigations could also shed light on how the travel, payment and return of these people were organised," Subasic said. FTV also claims that there was a "special price list", with the price depending on whether the target was "a man, a woman, a pregnant woman or a child".
The memory of the survivors
"Weekend Chetniks": this is what the residents of Sarajevo called the Serbs who joined the Serbian positions only on Saturdays and Sundays - by analogy with the name of the Serbian nationalists who fought during the wars in Yugoslavia.
Dzemil Hodzic was ten years old when his 16-year-old brother Amel was killed by a sniper in 1993. Today, Hodzic runs the photo project "Sniper Alley" , in which he talks about life under siege.
"We know about mercenaries and volunteers from Russia and Greece, as well as from the Serbian diaspora", Hodzic said in an interview with DW. "The German photojournalist Peter Kuhlmann says he met Serbs who came from Germany for the weekends to defend their country, as they themselves claimed. They came on Friday after work and returned late on Sunday to return to work on Monday, Hodzic said.
It is not known whether these people paid or were paid, but their activities leave bloody traces on the streets of Sarajevo, Hodzic said. During the siege of Sarajevo, more than 11,000 people died, including 1,601 children. The war in Bosnia claimed the lives of over 100,000 people.
"Almost all victims were civilians"
Analysis of the number of civilian casualties has shown that snipers in Sarajevo killed between 300 and 350 people. "Almost all victims were civilians," Mirsad Tokaca, director of the Sarajevo Research and Documentation Center, told DW.
While there is no exact figure for the number of "tourist snipers", the participation of foreign mercenaries in the Bosnian Serb armed forces is well documented. "Our database includes around 300 people from Greece, Russia, Ukraine and other countries who fought in the Serbian army," Tokaca said.
The current Italian investigations into "hobby snipers" could lead to the first trials of European citizens who participated in war crimes outside the formal military hierarchy, but with the support or knowledge of one of the warring parties.
Author: Samir Huseynovic