Italian prosecutors investigating allegations of "sniper tourism" in Sarajevo in the 1990s currently do not have enough evidence to seek trial for any suspect, a person directly familiar with the case said today.
Prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into five people over allegations that Italians and other foreigners paid to shoot civilians during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, a source said.
The investigation began last year, after journalist and writer Ecio Gavaceni filed a criminal complaint over allegations that wealthy foreigners traveled to BiH to participate in shooting excursions during the war in the former Yugoslav republic.
The source said that among the five suspects was a Milanese aristocrat who, according to testimony collected by Gavaceni, allegedly bragged at a dinner with former schoolmates that he had gone to Sarajevo to shoot people.
The source said prosecutors currently have only circumstantial evidence and no hard evidence. "Quite frankly, at this point, prosecutors could not possibly ask for any of the suspects to be sent to trial," the source said.
Milan prosecutor Alessandro Gobis, who is leading the investigation, and chief prosecutor Marcello Viola will meet with Belgian and Bosnian prosecutors at Eurojust, the EU's judicial cooperation body, in Luxembourg on June 29 to discuss the case, the source said.
"They hope that a meeting with foreign colleagues and further investigation will bring additional elements," the source said.
In recent days, carabinieri searched the home of one of the suspects, a 66-year-old former municipal official from Genoa who now lives in the province of Alessandria, in northwestern Italy, the source said.
The man has already been questioned in recent months and exercised his right not to answer questions, the source said.
The search was ordered after his ex-partner testified that he had nightmares about what he allegedly did 30 years ago, the source said. Police seized a silencer and a photo of a precision rifle, the source added.
The source said that a separate line of investigation into an alleged hidden network in Milan, which allegedly organized trips during which civilians were shot at in the 1990s, has so far yielded no results.
About 11.000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire from Bosnian Serb army positions in the hills around Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 war, which followed BiH's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia.
The Italian investigation was opened after Gavaceni filed a complaint alleging that Italians and other foreigners paid members of Bosnian Serb forces to allow them to participate in excursions where civilians were shot, sometimes called "sniper tourism."
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
