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Prosecutors in Croatia have opened an investigation into two tourists, an Austrian citizen and an unidentified individual, for alleged participation in ‘sniper tours’ during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. This follows similar inquiries in Italy regarding claims that tourists paid to shoot at civilians in the war-torn city.
Prosecutors in Croatia launched an investigation on 25 April into an Austrian citizen and another unidentified individual associated with “sniper tours” during the Bosnian War. Allegedly, these tours attracted participants from various nationalities, with previous inquiries revealing Italian tourists had paid significant sums for similar activities in Sarajevo.
Prosecutors in Croatia have opened an investigation into an Austrian citizen and another unidentified individual over alleged involvement in ‘sniper tours’ during the Siege of Sarajevo. Alma Zadic, a former justice minister in Austria, condemned the actions, stating that “the idea that people may have paid money to deliberately shoot at civilians is almost unimaginable in its cruelty.”
What remains unclear — The identities of the second suspect and the alleged Austrian participant in the sniper tours have not been revealed.
Investigation launched in Croatia over alleged human safari participation during Sarajevo siege
Bosnian Serb snipers tortured civilians while sniping at them daily in the 1990s (Picture: AFP)
Prosecutors in Croatia have opened an investigation looking at two tourists who are accused of taking part in a ‘human safari’ which killed thousands of innocent Bosnians.
During the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, European tourists were accused of paying to shoot at civilians in the war-torn city.
In November, officials in Milan opened an investigation into Italian tourists who allegedly paid £70,000 to join the sickening ‘safari’, and now two people in Croatia are also under investigation.
The country’s justice ministry said: ‘An investigation was opened on April 25 against an Austrian citizen and another as-yet-unidentified individual in connection with possible participation in so-called ‘sniper tours’ in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.’
Last month, further allegations of Croatian involvement emerged when journalist Domagoj Margetic released an interview with a former Bosnian Serb army major.
In the interview, he claimed an Austrian came in late 1992 and 1993 and went by the name ‘Grof’ with the Serbs, and gave his name as ‘Sebastian’.
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‘I have also been told that Serbian soldiers at Sarajevo checkpoints remember hunters showing Austrian passports,’ the commander claimed.
Prosecutors in Italy are already investigating some of their citizens (Picture: AP)
Italian, Croatian, British, French, Spanish, Russian and German nationals have been accused of attending the ‘tours’.
Alma Zadic, a Bosnian-born member of the Austrian Green Party and the former justice minister, said of the new allegations: ‘The idea that people may have paid money to deliberately shoot at civilians — even children — is almost unimaginable in its cruelty.
‘Such acts represent a level of contempt for humanity that leaves one speechless. The victims and their relatives have a right to truth, justice and clarification.’
The shooting in the city was so bad that two main streets, Ulica Zmaja od Bosne and Meša Selimović Boulevard, were dubbed ‘sniper alley’.
Citizens had to run to and from grocery stores, work and home while dodging bullets (Picture: AFP)
During the siege, Sarajevo’s electric, gas and water supplies were cut off – leaving those within the city with no access to vital infrastructure.
Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, Stanislav Galic, were both found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Hague over the attack.
Both were eventually handed sentences of life imprisonment. Karadzic is serving his sentence in the UK, while Galic was taken to Germany.
The siege ended in 1995, leaving 13,952 people dead. 5,434 of these casualties were civilians.
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