Sarajevo | Pakistan

The launch of an investigation in Italy into allegations that foreigners paid to shoot at civilians during the siege of Sarajevo three decades ago has raised survivors’ hopes that people will be brought to justice. About 11,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire from Bosnian Serb army positions on hills around the besieged city during the 1992-95 war that followed Bosnia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. Milan prosecutors opened their investigation, a source said, after local journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni filed a legal complaint over allegations that Italians and other foreigners had paid members of the Bosnian Serb forces to visit and shoot at civilians under what some referred to as “sniper tourism”. Gavazzeni said he had been inspired to look into the allegations after watching a 2022 documentary titled Sarajevo Safari, by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic. Without providing any firm evidence, Gavazzeni said wealthy foreigners paid large sums of money to take part in the...