An 80-year-old man from Italy is under investigation for the "sniper tourists" case

2026-02-05 15:05:39, Kosova & Bota CNA

An 80-year-old man from Italy is under investigation for the "sniper

An 80-year-old Italian citizen is also being investigated in the case of "sniper tourists," who allegedly paid to kill people during the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, including women and children.

Italian media reported on this case, saying they received information from sources in the justice sector.

The suspect, an 80-year-old former truck driver from the province of Pordenone, whose name has not been made public, has been served with a summons for questioning, which has been set for Monday, February 9, the sources said, Reuters reports.

Prosecutors in Milan have not indicated whether he is suspected of directly committing the murders or of assisting in transportation and logistics for clients.

The man, who worked at a metal processing company, is under investigation because, reportedly, in the 1990s he spoke of going on such missions to the former Yugoslavia, the Italian news agency ANSA reports.

The Milan prosecutor's office, which has summoned him for questioning, accuses him of "in collaboration with other persons, currently unknown", having implemented "a common criminal plan, causing the death of unarmed civilians, including women, the elderly and children, by sniper shooting from the hills surrounding the city of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995".

The media reports that it is a man with extreme right-wing beliefs, who openly declares himself a fascist, wears a black shirt and possesses a weapon.

The Milan Prosecutor's Office launched the investigation into foreigners suspected of firing, in exchange for money, from Serbian force positions around Sarajevo several months ago.

The report on the “sniper tourists” was filed by writer and journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, based on the testimony of former Bosnian secret service agent Edin Subaši?. He revealed that during the war, his country’s intelligence services had provided the Italian SISMI service with information about snipers traveling from Trieste to the former Yugoslavia to participate as “sniper tourists,” and that SISMI had stopped these expeditions, identifying the perpetrators.

It is unknown why no investigation has been opened since then and the organizers and participants of such trips have not been prosecuted.

Gavazzeni is writing a book about all of this, which, according to previous reports, is expected to be published in February.

He also said that he was inspired to investigate these allegations after watching the documentary "Sarajevo Safari" by Slovenian director Miran Zupani? in 2022.

Gavazzeni alleged in his complaint that wealthy foreigners paid large sums of money to participate. He said the Italians met in Trieste before traveling to Belgrade, where Bosnian Serb soldiers escorted them to the hills overlooking Sarajevo.

The attention of investigators to the 80-year-old from San Vito al Tagliamento was drawn by the testimony of a woman who, after the first revelations about "death tourism" in the 1990s, had arrived on a local television station in Veneto. Investigators are currently working on at least one other name, writes Corriere della Sera.

The file also includes criminal charges against the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, as well as the testimony of a Serbian prisoner, captured by Bosnian forces, who had spoken about Italians coming from Milan, Turin and Trieste.

During the nearly four years of siege of Sarajevo by the forces of the Army of Republika Srpska, according to data from victims' associations and decisions by international courts, every tenth child out of the more than 1,600 killed in the city was hit by sniper bullets. Over 14,000 children were injured.

The siege of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days. Attacks on civilians from positions of the Army of Republika Srpska, according to the decisions of the Hague Tribunal, occurred anywhere and at any time, day and night.

In a final verdict for the siege of Sarajevo, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Stanislav Galli? was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Dragomir Miloševi? was sentenced to 29 years in prison. Both were former commanders of the Sarajevo-Romani Corps, which kept Sarajevo under siege for 44 months.

Part of the life sentences for Radovan Karadzic, the former president of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladic, the commander of the RS army, a sentence related precisely to the terrorization of the civilian population of Sarajevo.

Several people have been prosecuted by local courts for crimes committed in the besieged parts of the city of Sarajevo.

However, so far no sniper has been tried for the killings of civilians, especially children, in Sarajevo./ REL