Tourists paid extra to shoot and kill children. The crimes occurred during the siege of Sarajevo, one of the bloodiest chapters of the Bosnian War, between 1992 and 1995, the period of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia (current Serbia).
The complaint is investigated by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office and was opened after an investigation by Italian reporter and writer Ezio Gavazzeni, who gave an interview to the newspaper La Repubblica. According to the report, the “excursions” cost from €80,000 (around R$493,000) to €100,000 (R$616,000) per person.
The money was handed over to Serbian militia intermediaries. The suspects must be tried for intentional homicide aggravated by cruelty and base motives.
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How the scheme worked
According to the complaint, Italian tourists flew to Belgrade, Serbia, via the airline Aviogenex. They would then travel by helicopter or overland to the hills of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they would receive weapons and be positioned to shoot civilians.
Who are the suspects?
According to the report, most of the shooters were politicians or far-right supporters, between 40 and 50 years old, who had a passion for weapons and were looking for forms of “sadistic” adrenaline. They lived in the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Triveneto.
Among the “war tourists” are:
- businessmen – one of them owned a private clinic in Milan;
- doctors;
- mercenaries.
Who will be heard by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office?
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- a former employee of the Bosnian intelligence agency, who, according to La Repubblica, has already stated that Italy’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (Sismi) was alerted to the situation in early 1994;
- an officer from Slovenia;
- a firefighter who testified at the trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. At the time, he cited “tourist shooters” with clothes and weapons that clashed with the context;
- the parents of a one-year-old baby who was killed in “sniper alley”.
