The German magazine Der Spiegel joined other media recently reporting on the story of the so-called “people safari” during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The author of the article spoke with numerous individuals previously mentioned in this renewed story about the alleged visits of wealthy Western Europeans to Sarajevo during the war, who are suspected of killing civilians in the besieged city for substantial sums of money.
At the start of the in-depth report, retired Italian judge Guido Salvini is cited. Together with author Ezio Gavazzani, he filed a lawsuit at a Milan court against unidentified individuals for murder with malicious intent.
“That something unspeakable happened in Sarajevo, that hobby hunters fired on people for amusement, is beyond any doubt,” Salvini said in a television interview. “Thanks to many different sources, there is no longer the slightest doubt about this.”
Gavazzani’s book mentioned “230 Italians, along with a few French, Belgians, and Austrians” who allegedly participated in the killings of civilians.
Warnings from the Other Side
Der Spiegel also quoted Naser Husić, a former member of the 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was stationed across from the Grbavica neighborhood during the war.
“It happened, especially on Fridays, that we received warnings over Motorola radios from the other, Serbian side of the front: ‘Take women and children to safety,’” Husić said. “We knew that weekend snipers were coming.”
Husić could not identify shooters with certainty, but noted that sniper attacks were far more frequent on weekends than during the week.
The article also included testimony from Aleksandar Ličanin, a former member of the Serbian Army from Prijedor, stationed near the Jewish cemetery, from where civilians were shot. “They fired on women, children, and the elderly; they were out of control,” Ličanin said, referring to the so-called “safari tourists.”
Ammunition as Trophies
As trophies, the hunters took home the spent casings, mostly of 7.62 × 51 mm caliber ammunition, painted according to the age of the victim: blue for boys, pink for girls, red and green for soldiers, yellow for adult women, and black and blue for older men.
According to the German magazine, toward the end of the war, the price for a single shot increased at least threefold for children, reaching up to 100 million Italian liras, which today equals roughly 50,000 euros (100,000 BAM).
Der Spiegel also cited Italian expert Martina Radice, who, referring to “reliable sources,” stated that snipers were reportedly willing to pay up to 200,000 euros for just one weekend. She explained that some of these men were no longer satisfied with legal hunting, not even hunting elephants, and sought new thrills for the adrenaline.
A criminologist analyzing the alleged perpetrators diagnosed “elite psychopathy—these were sick individuals who chose to break all rules.”
Radice further noted that many of these men remain prominent in society today. “Based on everything we know, these individuals still occupy important positions, live well, are well connected, and probably fear nothing more than the day their social façade might start to crumble,” the criminologist said. “If that were to happen, it would cause a huge upheaval.”
From Games of War to Real War
Der Spiegel also discussed Trieste, a city that played a significant role in the “weekend sniper” story. The report includes an interview with retired Robert Ruzzier, who recalled how, in the early 1990s, groups of weapons enthusiasts gathered in forests near the Slovenian border to play war.
“One day, word spread about a hidden advertisement offering trips to Sarajevo,” Ruzzier said. “It promised we would receive a Dragunov sniper rifle and three bullets; we could do whatever we wanted with them.”
He remembered that a Slovenian fighter named “Rollo” had proposed the Sarajevo trip.
According to further witness statements, a Montenegrin, owner of a car workshop in Trieste, organized the transport of armed “human hunters” under the pretext of delivering medicines. Investigators are currently determining whether charter flights departing from the airport north of Trieste were used for these transports.
