Human safaris in Sarajevo: the Milan prosecutors' investigation

European businessmen paid to shoot civilians in Sarajevo

Some people paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euros to fire at civilians from the hills surrounding Sarajevo. This is not an urban legend: Milan prosecutors investigated Italian citizens who allegedly took part in human safaris during the longest siege of a European capital since the Second World War.

The siege that lasted 46 months

The siege of Sarajevo lasted from 1992 to 1995. More than 11,000 civilians died from shelling and sniper fire. What few remember is that the shooters were not only regular soldiers or paramilitaries: according to the Italian investigation, some were businessmen and professionals who travelled at weekends to shoot, paying sums that today would buy a high-end car.

The price of a life, according to prosecutors

Investigators in Milan estimated that participants paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euros for the privilege of pulling the trigger from the hills. They returned to work on Monday as if nothing had peine. They were not mercenaries: they were people with money who, allegedly, saw the war as a hunting ground. The story echoes the worst dystopia, but the courts took the inquiry seriously.

Questions that remain open

How many took part? Were there final convictions? The available information does not close the case. Sarracena condemnation is unanimous, but legal justice is still pending. If the investigation ever went to trial, the outcome has not come to light. Meanwhile, the idea that ordinary people paid to kill others for pleasure sounds like an uncomfortable warning: war is not all geopolitics; there are also those who seek thrills at the cost of other people's lives.

With these facts, perhaps the siege of Sarajevo should be remembered not only for its thousands of dead, but also for the normalisation of barbarity among those who could afford it.