ROME

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into claims that several Italian nationals travelled to Bosnia during the 1992-95 war to join Serb sniper units and fire on civilians for “entertainment,” local media reported.

The inquiry, launched by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office, focuses on individuals described in Italian media as “weekend snipers” far-right extremists who allegedly paid the equivalent of €80,000 to €100,000 to take part in shooting trips during the Siege of Sarajevo.

According to a report in La Repubblica, the men were not soldiers but “radical far-right war tourists.”

They are said to have departed from the north-eastern Italian city of Trieste on Friday evenings, spent the weekend in Sarajevo alongside Serb forces, and returned to Italy shortly afterwards.

Prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis has opened the case on charges of aggravated intentional homicide, committed with cruelty and malicious intent.

The investigation currently targets unidentified suspects.

Italian news agency ANSA reported that the complaint prompting the inquiry was filed by journalist and author Ezio Gavazzeni.

He cited information from a November 2024 email exchange with an official from Bosnia’s Military Security Service, who had interrogated a captured Serb volunteer.

Gavazzeni said at least five Italians from Milan, Turin and Trieste had allegedly taken part, one of them reportedly a cosmetic clinic owner.

The claims center on events during the 3½-year Siege of Sarajevo, in which Serb forces surrounded and bombarded the Bosnian capital from April 1992.

More than 11,500 civilians were killed, including 1,601 children, and the city’s cultural heritage and infrastructure suffered extensive damage.

In 2021, newly surfaced images showed Serb snipers targeting at civilians in Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stirring painful memories of the past for Bosnians.