The Milan Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into reports that groups of wealthy Europeans, including Italians, purchased tours to Sarajevo to shoot at civilians during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s, writes La Repubblica.
It is believed that the 'tourist snipers' paid an amount equivalent to modern standards of €80,000 to €100,000 to soldiers of the army of Radovan Karadžić, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who was convicted of war crimes by the International Tribunal in 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sarajevo is located in a valley and surrounded by mountains, making it accessible to shelling. More than 10,000 people died as a result of constant shelling and sniper fire from 1992 to 1996. Snipers shot 'at people in the streets, including children, indiscriminately, as if it were a video game or safari,' the publication writes.
The investigation was initiated after a complaint was filed by Milanese writer Ezio Gavazzini, who conducted his own investigation. Authorities are working to establish the identities of the suspects.
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