City of Sarajevo joins criminal proceedings in Milan in the case of the “sniper tourists”

2026-01-28 19:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

City of Sarajevo joins criminal proceedings in Milan in the case of the

The Sarajevo City Council gave its consent on January 28th for the City of Sarajevo to join the criminal proceedings being conducted before the judicial authorities in Milan, Italy, against persons suspected of having fired sniper fire at Sarajevo citizens during the war.

In early November last year, Italian media reported that the Milan prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into "sniper tourists," who, according to the complaint of writer and journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, paid large sums of money to go to the positions of the Army of Republika Srpska around Sarajevo and, mainly "for fun," would shoot with snipers and kill citizens in besieged Sarajevo.

After several attempts by Radio Free Europe to interview him, Gavazzeni indicated through intermediaries that he did not wish to speak. In the meantime, he held a press conference in Milan where he said that he would publish a book about “sniper tourists” in February.

Gavazzeni said he first saw allegations of foreigners going to the front lines in 1995, in an article published in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, after which he began writing a thriller on the subject. He said he quickly realized he knew very little and gave up. But it wasn't until 2022, when he saw the documentary "Sarajevo Safari" by Slovenian director Miran Zupani?, that he realized he knew very little.

The Milan prosecutor's office is expected to inform the public about the results of the investigation in March 2026. If an indictment is filed and guilt is proven, this will be the first case in Europe where someone will answer in court for the sniper killings of civilians in Sarajevo.

Meanwhile, the Bosnian and Herzegovina judiciary is verifying the claims, but so far no sniper has been prosecuted for the killing of civilians, especially children, in Sarajevo.

Foreign journalists and photojournalists, almost throughout the war from 1992 to the end of 1995, occasionally had the opportunity to stay in the positions of Serbian forces around Sarajevo.

Radio Free Europe contacted several of them, but none could confirm that they had ever seen a foreigner who had paid to come and shoot at civilians.

During the nearly four years of the siege of Sarajevo, according to data from victims' associations and judgments from international courts, every tenth child killed in the city was shot by a sniper's bullet. More than 14,000 children were injured.

However, no sniper has been held accountable on the basis of personal responsibility – neither before domestic nor international courts.

The Hague Tribunal, in its verdicts against top Republika Srpska officials, found that the sniper campaign had one purpose: "to terrorize the civilians of Sarajevo."

Meanwhile, the Bosnian and Herzegovina judiciary is verifying the claims, but so far no sniper has been prosecuted for the killing of civilians, especially children, in Sarajevo.

Foreign journalists and photojournalists, almost throughout the war from 1992 to the end of 1995, occasionally had the opportunity to stay in the positions of Serbian forces around Sarajevo.

Radio Free Europe contacted several of them, but none could confirm that they had ever seen a foreigner who had paid to come and shoot at civilians.

However, no sniper has been held accountable on the basis of personal responsibility – neither before domestic nor international courts.

The Hague Tribunal, in its verdicts against top Republika Srpska officials, has found that the sniper campaign had one purpose: "to terrorize the civilians of Sarajevo."/ Rel