Italian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into citizens of Russia, the United States, and Italy suspected of participating in so-called “human safaris” during the Bosnian war — paid opportunities to shoot at civilians trapped in besieged Sarajevo.

The allegations were first reported by The Telegraph, which cites Italian investigative sources. According to these findings, in the 1990s wealthy foreign visitors paid Serbian forces tens of thousands of pounds for the chance to fire on civilians from sniper positions controlled by the Bosnian Serb army.

A Paid “Weekend Sniper” Experience

Investigators say the practice occurred under the authority of Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb leader later sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide and war crimes.

The Telegraph reports that these “weekend snipers” allegedly paid up to £100,000 for the experience. Anonymous sources told the newspaper that children were considered high-value targets, while elderly victims were “free to kill.”

Documented Cases and Historical Context

The only publicly documented case of a foreigner firing toward Sarajevo in such circumstances remains the 1992 incident involving Eduard Limonov, a Russian writer and extremist political figure, filmed shooting from a Serb-held position overlooking the city.

Former Bosnian and U.S. soldiers involved in wartime investigations have previously described similar atrocities carried out by Serbian forces and foreign volunteers. However, the new Italian inquiry represents the first systematic effort to identify and prosecute alleged paying participants from outside the former Yugoslavia.

Ongoing Investigation

Italian officials are now working to determine the identities of the suspects and verify the extent of their involvement. If confirmed, the revelations would add a new and disturbing dimension to the catalog of war crimes committed during the 1992–1995 siege of Sarajevo — one of the longest and deadliest urban sieges in modern European history.