A chilling nickname was given to the street where wealthy tourists allegedly paid $91,000 to shoot innocent people in horrifying “human safari” trips.
A disturbing new investigation has revived global attention on a dark chapter of the Sarajevo Siege, which took place from 1992 and 1996 and claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people.
According to authorities in Milan, explosive allegations have claimed that rich individuals, some allegedly with ties to far-right circles, paid Bosnian Serb militias $91,000 to shoot innocent people, including children, for sport in what’s being called a “human safari.”
The site of these alleged atrocities came to be known by a haunting moniker: Sniper Alley.
Tourists allegedly paid $91K to shoot innocent people in "human safari" hunting trips. Credit: Patrick Robert - Corbis/Getty
A street stained by horror
Sniper Alley referred to streets like Ulica Zmaja od Bosne and Meša Selimović Boulevard, the main arteries of Sarajevo, which became death traps during the war.
The boulevards were surrounded by high-rise buildings and mountain sniper posts used by Bosnian Serb forces to target civilians crossing the open streets, per reports.
Signs reading “Pazi - Snajper!” (“Watch out – Sniper!”) became part of daily life, and innocent civilians either fled across at full speed or waited for UN armored vehicles to shield them.
Despite the ever-present danger, Sarajevo’s residents had to keep moving to survive.
By 1995, data showed that snipers had wounded over 1,030 people and killed 225, 60 of them children.
Now, decades later, investigators believe some of those deadly shots may not have come from trained soldiers, but from foreign tourists who paid to participate in the killings.
Sniper Safaris
According to claims reported by The Telegraph, wealthy thrill-seekers from Italy, Russia, and the United States paid between $91,000 and $115,000 to gun down Sarajevo civilians from Serb-controlled sniper positions.
The killings were reportedly conducted under a grotesque “price list” that ranked victims by perceived value.
Italian journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, who submitted a 17-page legal complaint to prosecutors in Milan, claimed: “Children cost more, then men, preferably in uniform and armed, women, and finally old people, who could be killed for free," per Daily Mail.
These revelations were first brought to public attention in Sarajevo Safari, a 2022 documentary by Slovenian filmmaker Miran Zupanic.
The film featured testimonies from survivors who say they witnessed foreign nationals firing at civilians during the siege.
The sniper trips were allegedly orchestrated under the command of Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb leader later convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Reports allege that Serb militia members transported tourists to the hills, handed them weapons, and encouraged them to shoot, with little regard for skill or military training.
Former US Marine John Jordan, testifying before a UN tribunal in 2007, recalled seeing one foreigner wield a weapon “more suited to wild boar hunting in the Black Forest than to urban combat in the Balkans,” describing the individual as “a novice.”
A former Bosnian intelligence officer also noted that Italian intelligence services were aware of these foreign participants as early as 1993, but no legal action was taken at the time.
The Siege of Sarajevo, carried out by Bosnian Serb forces, lasted from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996. Credit: Antoine Gyori - Corbis/Getty
Justice decades later?
Now, nearly 30 years on, the Milan public prosecutor’s office is working with Italy’s Carabinieri police, known for their anti-terrorism and organized crime investigations, to identify those responsible.
The case is also being supported by the Bosnian government.
“We are eager to uncover the truth about such a cruel matter and settle accounts with the past,” said Dag Dumrukcic, the Bosnian consul in Milan.
“I am aware of some information that I will contribute to the investigation.”
Former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic is also backing the probe, alongside retired Italian magistrate Guido Salvini.
If proven true, the sniper safaris would mark one of the most grotesque war crimes ever uncovered, one that transformed a city under siege into a playground for the bloodlust of the world’s wealthy.