Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Fringey Mini: Sniper Tourism
Transcript
- 0:00Okay, Chelsea, just brace yourself for this story
- 0:02because it is fucking bleak. Oh, fuck. Hi, everybody.
- 0:08Welcome to the end of the year. This story comes
- 0:11from The Guardian, posted on November 11th, 2025,
- 0:15written by Angela Giuffrida and Kim Wilshire.
- 0:19Article title, Milan prosecutors investigate
- 0:23alleged sniper tourism during Bosnian war. What?
- 0:27No. why are you reading this article yeah Prosecutors
- 0:33in Milan have opened an investigation into Italians
- 0:36who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb
- 0:39army for trips to Sarajevo so that they could
- 0:42kill citizens during the four -year siege of
- 0:45the city in the 1990s. This is fucking bleak.
- 0:48More than 10 ,000 people were killed in Sarajevo
- 0:51by constant shelling and sniper fire between
- 0:531992 and 1996 in what was the longest siege in
- 0:56modern history after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared
- 0:59independence from Yugoslavia. No. No. are alleged
- 1:19to have participated in the massacre after paying
- 1:21large sums of money to soldiers belonging to
- 1:24the army of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian
- 1:27Serb leader who in 2016 was found guilty of genocide
- 1:30and other crimes against humanity to be transported
- 1:33to the hills surrounding Sarajevo so that they
- 1:35could shoot at the population for pleasure. Sarajevo
- 1:39is a basin surrounded by mountains which made
- 1:42cutting it off and attacking it particularly
- 1:44easy. Milan prosecutors, led by Alessandro Gobbi,
- 1:48launched an investigation aimed at identifying
- 1:50the Italians involved on charges of voluntary
- 1:52murder aggravated by cruelty and abject motives.
- 1:55The investigation originated from a legal complaint
- 1:58submitted by Ezio Gavazzini, a Milan -based writer
- 2:02who gathered evidence on the allegations as well
- 2:04as a report sent to the prosecutors by the former
- 2:06mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamin Carrick. Gavazzini
- 2:09said he had first read reports about the alleged
- 2:11sniper tourists in the Italian press in the 90s,
- 2:13but it was not until he watched Sarajevo Safari,
- 2:16a 2022 documentary by the Slovenian director
- 2:18Maran Zupanek, that he began to investigate further.
- 2:22In the documentary, a former Serb soldier and
- 2:24a contractor claimed that groups of Westerners
- 2:26would shoot at the civilian population from the
- 2:29hills around Sarajevo. Its claims have been vehemently
- 2:32denied by Serbian war veterans. Sarajevo Safari
- 2:35was the starting point. I began a correspondence
- 2:38with the director and from there expanded my
- 2:40investigation until I collected enough material
- 2:42to present to the Milan prosecutors, end quote,
- 2:45said Gavazzini. Gavazzini claimed, quote, many,
- 2:47many, many Italians, end quote. were alleged
- 2:50to have been involved without providing a figure.
- 2:52Quote, there were Germans, French, English, dot,
- 2:56dot, dot, people from all Western countries who
- 2:58paid large sums of money to be taken there to
- 3:00shoot civilians. End quote. Again, quote, there
- 3:04were no political or religious motivations. They
- 3:06were rich people who went there for fun and personal
- 3:09satisfaction. We're talking about people who
- 3:12love guns, who perhaps go to shooting ranges
- 3:14or on safari in Africa. End quote. He claimed
- 3:17the Italian suspects would meet in the northern
- 3:19city of Trieste and travel to Belgrade, from
- 3:22where the Bosnian Serb soldiers would accompany
- 3:25them to the hills of Sarajevo. Quote, there was
- 3:27a traffic of war tourists who went there to shoot
- 3:30people. I call it an indifference towards evil.
- 3:34End quote. Gabazzini said he had identified some
- 3:38of the Italian individuals alleged to have been
- 3:40involved and who are expected to be questioned
- 3:42by the prosecutors in the coming weeks. Probably
- 3:44the most high -profile deaths by sniper fire
- 3:47were Bosko Burkic and Admira Izmic, a couple
- 3:50documented in the film Romeo and Juliet and Sarajevo,
- 3:53who were killed by a sniper in 1993 while trying
- 3:56to cross a bridge. Their bodies remained in no
- 3:58man's land between the Bosnian and Bosnian Serb
- 4:00positions for several days. Photographs were
- 4:03published widely and became symbolic of the randomness
- 4:05and inhumanity of the war. the main street running
- 4:08into sarajevo messa selimovic boulevard was nicknamed
- 4:12sniper alley because it became extremely dangerous
- 4:16but could not be avoided as it was the way to
- 4:19sarajevo airport trams and buses had their windows
- 4:22shot out and all around there were sniper warning
- 4:24signs Nicola Brigida, a lawyer who helped Gavazzini
- 4:29prepare this case, said, quote, the evidence
- 4:31accumulated after a long investigation by Gavazzini
- 4:34is well substantiated and could lead to serious
- 4:37investigations to identify the culprits. There
- 4:39is also the report from the former Sarah Havel
- 4:42mayor, end quote, end of article. I can't even
- 4:45wrap my mind around how evil that is. I just,
- 4:49we got to agree with the orcas at this point.
- 4:52There is no other way to get. To the point. I
- 4:55just, I know there's good in this world, but
- 4:58this is also very, very evil. And it reminds
- 5:01me of a horror movie of, you know, those like
- 5:04billionaires. Oh, it's hostile. That's exactly
- 5:06it. And doesn't it just make you think like,
- 5:09yeah, it probably is the people who paid thousands
- 5:11of millions of dollars. I don't know how much
- 5:14to go shoot endangered animals in Africa. Yeah.
- 5:18I just... That hold value in something like that.
- 5:21And purely speculation at this point, just to
- 5:24cover my ass in case anything ever comes out
- 5:27of this. The Ukrainian -Russian war, you've got
- 5:30to wonder if anything similar is happening in
- 5:32that. You know, it wouldn't even be something
- 5:35that if I... You said, just make something up
- 5:38that you think is happening in this world that
- 5:40is so evil. I wouldn't even come up with something
- 5:43like this. In my imagination. Like I can't even
- 5:46wrap my head around something like this. And
- 5:49while I'm cursing you right now for bringing
- 5:52this article to light, I also... Can you believe
- 5:55that you... Like I don't know how many people
- 5:57have heard about this. This was posted about
- 5:59a month... I haven't heard about it. Three weeks
- 6:00ago from us reading this now. Thank you for sharing
- 6:04it because I haven't heard about that. And while
- 6:07it will haunt my dreams, I appreciate that we're
- 6:10putting it out there as... Something. Yeah. Ah,
- 6:16it's so dark. Oh my God. But don't worry. You
- 6:18guys got 48 hours and a new, a whole new year
- 6:21to go into. And maybe this can shape your new
- 6:26year's resolutions. I don't know. Maybe a positive
- 6:28out of this. Yeah. Don't be one of these guys.
- 6:30We have faith in you that these guys are not
- 6:32listening to us. Yeah. Anyhow. Bye. Bye.