'Sarajevo human safari hunter told his wife he spent weekends shooting Muslims and suffered nightmares about the people he killed in the 1990s'

By TARYN KAUR PEDLER, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:40, 17 June 2026 | Updated: 14:59, 17 June 2026 An alleged Sarajevo human safari hunter told his wife he had spent weeks shooting Muslims and suffered nightmares about the people he had killed in the 1990s. Milan prosecutors said Wednesday that Italian police had seized 'significant' evidence during a search of the home of one of four people under investigation for murder over alleged 'weekend sniper' trips to the Balkan city during the Bosnia war. The suspects, wealthy Western tourists, allegedly paid large sums of money to Serbian militia so they could shoot Bosnian citizens during the 1993 to 1995 Siege of Sarajevo, in which 11,500 people died. Distasteful claims from the bloody conflict were explored in a 2022 documentary that suggested tourists, including Brits, Germans, Spaniards and Italians, as well as snipers from Russia, the US and Canada, paid higher sums to shoot at children.  Prosecutors said the latest evidence seized included a photo of the suspect, a 65-year-old man residing in Alessandria, with technical equipment and a silencer. The search took place following testimony from his ex-wife and former partner. During questioning, the former partner said the suspect told her he suffered from nightmares because he had murdered people in Bosnia in the 1990s. 'He told me that he used to depart from Milan by plane and that there were some people with him who spent the weekend... being snipers and shooting Muslims,' she told investigators. A Bosnian special forces soldier returns fire on April 6 1992 in downtown Sarajevo as he and civilians come under fire from Serbian snipers  Seeking shelter behind a United Nations vehicle, a Bosnian man pinned down by sniper fire, peers from behind the wheel in Sarajevo in 1995 Doctors at Sarajevo's State Hospital carry Mujo Causevic, a Bosnian Army soldier wounded by sniper fire on one of Sarajevo's front lines, to be treated, 1995 The man reportedly used the right to remain silent when previously quizzed by prosecutors. The other suspects are an 80-year-old former lorry driver from Pordenone, a 64-year-old businessman who lives in Brianza and a person from Tuscany.  It comes after a book claimed that the gun-toting enthusiasts who travelled thousands of miles to shoot the innocent civilians competed to see who could kill the most beautiful women. Pay and Shoot, by Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic, published a swathe of documents handed to the author by a Bosnian intelligence officer before he was killed in 1996.   Nedzad Ugljen gathered proof of the 'safari', including files showing the tourists paid their Serbian handlers 80,000 marks - almost £35,000 at the time - to shoot at middle-aged men and women. But young women would command a higher price of 95,000 marks, while the most expensive 'targets' were pregnant women, priced at 110,000 marks. Margetic said: 'Ugljen also wrote the foreigners competed to see who could shoot the most beautiful women.' The agent revealed he had spoken to members of the Bosnian-Serb militia who hosted the foreign snipers, with 'many' claiming that a European royal was among those who took part. The book also revealed how the idea for the 'safari' originated in Croatia, not Serbia, and involved a Croatian who formerly worked for Yugoslav intelligence. Margetic's book endorsed previous claims that the indiscriminate bloodshed seen during those years may not have been perpetrated solely by the Bosnian-Serb militias, but also by ordinary civilians eager for a thrill. Wealthy foreigners wanted in on the action - and paid handsomely to live out their fantasies by travelling to Sarajevo on the weekends to partake in a 'human safari'. In November 2025, Italian authorities launched an investigation into the claims, with survivors hopeful the truth may finally be uncovered. There have been rumours for decades regarding the veracity of the allegations. In 2007, John Jordan, a former US Marine, testified at The Hague before the United Nations-led ad hoc international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The veteran made astonishing claims about his time volunteering as a UN firefighter in Sarajevo - the war-torn capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina - between 1992 and 1995. The crisis began when the Bosnian-Serb forces - agitated by Bosnia and Herzegovina's decision to break from federal Yugoslavia - besieged the city for 44 months, cutting off food, electricity and setting whole neighbourhoods ablaze with cannon fire and shelling.  Jordan stationed himself in Sarajevo during the longest siege in the history of modern warfare to help civilians, and gave evidence years later about the horrors he witnessed. Sarajevo residents run along 'Sniper Alley' under the protection of French United Nations soldiers, 1994 A French soldier stands alongside a group of Sarajevans seeking shelter behind a UN armoured personnel carrier from sniper-fire, 1995 The landmark trial led to the sentencing of Bosnian-Serb general Dragomir Milosevic to 33 years in jail for murder, inhumane treatment and overseeing a campaign of terror that killed thousands, mainly Muslims. At the trial, Jordan testified about several atrocities, including the Serb's indiscriminate targeting of unarmed residents.  He himself was shot in the chest while responding to a fire at the city's frontline, just north of the Grbavica area, held by the Bosnian-Serb forces. He also testified about how Serb shooters seemed to deliberately aim for the youngest in a family, as a way to 'cause the most pain to survivors'. 'If an adult and child were walking together, the child would be shot. If a family was walking, it would be the youngest. In a crowd of girls, it seemed that the most attractive would be shot,' he said in his statement. In 2022, Slovenian director Miran Zupanič released a documentary entitled 'Sarajevo Safari', gathering testimony from witnesses who said they saw such activity first-hand. One of the interviewees was an anonymous Slovenian man who worked as an intelligence officer for the US during the Balkan Wars and claimed to have visited Bosnia around 35 times between 1992 and 1994. Describing the types of foreigners who took part in the 'safari' - of which he witnessed seven - the former agent said they were from the 'upper echelons'. 'These people were certainly not ordinary people. They were people in high positions, protected... people who, after having everything, seek another thrill, saying to themselves: "Why shouldn't I now shoot a child or an adult in Sarajevo and gain another pleasure? I won't only kill animals,"' he said. 'I never heard the prices. I only know it was terribly expensive, and that the price was higher for a child,' he added. In a lengthy description, the witness recounted how he was invited on one of the safaris and escorted into a military SUV, after being given a bulletproof vest, a helmet and a green uniform as preparation. 'They told me they would show me the close positions of their soldiers,' the witness said, but then the SUV stopped in front of a building, and he noticed something peculiar about the so-called troops. 'There I saw three gentlemen whose faces immediately told me they were not from Bosnia, not Serbs, not Montenegrins; they had to be from the West. 'One of them even looked Russian. I can tell by the face. They were prepared: you could see something was about to happen. I thought they were foreign journalists... Then I connected the dots. These men couldn't wait to come and do something,' he said. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. 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