Germans write about monsters who came to Sarajevo and shot at children

(Patria) - Hunters from Europe, who no longer had the will to shoot only at animals, paid between 80,000 and 100,000 current euros for the murder of a person, write German-language media and provide details about so-called "sniper tourists" in Sarajevo, reports Deutsche Welle.

- What Ezio Gavazzeni has collected through testimonies and material chills the blood: during 1993 and 1994, more than a hundred foreign hunters allegedly paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euros for the murder of a person - writes Dominik Straub for the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.

According to the research of the Italian writer and journalist Gavazzeni, the Serbian security service allegedly offered them that opportunity.

- During the siege of Sarajevo, it organized real human safaris in the hills around the Bosnian capital. A particularly gruesome detail: if the victim was a child, the price for the 'kill' was even higher" - reports Tagesspiegel.

- According to Gavazzeni, at least five Italian citizens were among the participants of the human safaris. Prosecutor Gobbis has not yet named the suspects. During the siege of Sarajevo by Slobodan Milošević's criminal regime, between 1992 and 1996, more than 11,000 civilians were killed; about 1,000 of them fell victim to snipers in the infamous Sniper Alley, a wide boulevard in an open area where people were exposed to constant threat - states Tagesspiegel.

The author of the text notes that Gavazzeni's main witness is a former Bosnian intelligence agent named Edin Subašić. He claims that in 1993 he informed the Italian military intelligence service SISMI about the "safaris" and the participation of Italian citizens.

The documentation also includes Subašić's letter to Gavazzeni, in which he describes the psychological profile of the sniper tourists: "They were passionate hunters who had already gone through all kinds of legal safaris and were looking for extra adrenaline in the form of human trophies. These are people who love weapons and are simultaneously psychopaths. They are all rich and probably influential people. They have the money and political influence to protect themselves from possible investigations."

Gavazzeni claims to know the names of some weekend snipers; one of them is allegedly the owner of a private clinic. Most of them, he adds, hold right-wing and far-right views.

How credible all these statements and documents that Gavazzeni submitted to the prosecution are, the investigation will show. According to Subašić, the relevant files, which exist in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are classified as "secret" and inaccessible, concludes Tagesspiegel.

In the text by the same author for the Austrian Standard, published a day earlier, it is stated that former intelligence officer Edin Subašić claims that he personally informed the then Italian military intelligence service SISMI in 1993 about the "human safaris" and the participation of Italians. Two to three months later, in early 1994, SISMI allegedly responded: "We discovered that the safaris originate from Trieste. We prevented them, and now they are no longer happening."

It is not yet known whether this letter from the Italian intelligence service actually existed or whether it was sent to the Bosnian intelligence service. What is certain is that the story of sniper tourism in the hills around Sarajevo is not new. Milan's Corriere della Sera wrote about this phenomenon as early as 1995 - i.e., during the siege - under the title "Holiday in Bosnia, Shooting Included," writes Standard.

The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) states that Gavazzeni said in an interview with the newspaper Repubblica that he has been dealing with this topic for a long time, and he was motivated by the documentary film "Sarajevo Safari" by Slovenian director Miran Zupanič from 2022.

Zupanič's film caused fierce reactions from Bosnian Serbs - war veterans, who claimed that the documentary was based on lies.

Gavazzeni, however, claims to have "numerous proofs" and that it all really happened. There were many who shot at people - "Germans, French, English, people from the West," he told the British Guardian. He added that he had "upset half of Europe" and analyzed Bosnian and Italian sources, including those from intelligence circles. From the Serbian side, he says, he got nothing: "Serbs consider everything an urban legend, a fabrication," NZZ states.

The Swiss newspaper further writes that allegations of the existence of such "safaris" appeared as early as 2007. During the trial of Yugoslav war criminals in The Hague, an American firefighter, who stayed in Sarajevo as a volunteer and testified before the Tribunal, spoke about foreign snipers.

"It is believed that he was the first to use the term 'sniper tourists' and spoke about the monstrous methods attributed to them. Italian media are currently reporting his statements from the trial. According to the hearing minutes, which the newspaper Avvenire quotes, some of the snipers chose the most vulnerable targets: children.

The statements of this American could be key to the continuation of the investigation in Milan. According to an article published in the newspaper Avvenire, the prosecution has already requested the submission of documents from the Hague Tribunal.

A complaint filed by the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022 could also play an important role. She also referred to Zupanič's film. Karić has since forwarded her documentation to the Milan prosecutor's office and stated that she is ready to assist the investigation.

- Let the prosecutors from Milan and Sarajevo do their job - Karić told Repubblica, reports Neue Zürcher Zeitung, reports Deutsche Welle.