Ex-wife of man who allegedly took part in ‘£70,000 human safaris’ gives shocking testimony on 'people he killed
A woman has described the shocking alleged actions of her ex-husband, who she claims travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s to take part in the barbaric 'human safaris'.
Italian prosecutors in Milan are investigating the distressing claims that wealthy European tourists paid substantial sums of money to Bosnian Serb army units to shoot and kill innocent civilians - including pregnant women and children - during the siege of Sarajevo between 1993 - 1995.
Around 11,000 people are believed to have died during these brutal four years, with reports alleging that the prices of these 'human safaris' varied depending on the targets, whether that be men, women or children.
As more and more horrific details continue to emerge of these crimes, the ex-wife of a man who allegedly took part in the 'sniper safaris' has spoken to prosecutors about what he told her about his time in Bosnia, claiming he suffered nightmares due to the murders he'd carried out.
'Being snipers and shooting Muslims'
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The Italian man, who hasn't been identified, allegedly told his ex 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 also claimed he'd have nightmares over the people he'd murdered.
The Daily Mail reports that the man, from Alessandria, used the right to remain silent when previously questioned by prosecutors.
As part of 'significant' evidence gathered by Italian police during a search of the home of one of four people under investigation, a photo of the man was unearthed with technical equipment and a silencer.
Other suspects include an 80-year-old former lorry driver from Pordenone, a 64-year-old businessman who lives in Brianza, and a person from Tuscany.
A file that allegedly proves the 'human safaris' happened
This comes after five Italians were identified as taking part in the 'human safaris', with a journalist who has been investigating the allegations saying there was a file opened years ago which could prove it happened.
Ezio Gavazzeni previously told LADbible: "There is a file opened in 1993 in Sarajevo by our secret services (SISMI), which specifically mentions five Italians intercepted and identified by the services on the hills around Sarajevo.
"Three testimonies confirm the existence of this file: Edin Subasic, Michel Giffoni, and Adriano Sofri. The fact that such a file exists, and that it even includes five names of sniper-hunters, shows that we are no longer dealing with just a few testimonies but with a documented phenomenon."
He also claimed to know the prices tourists would pay to murder innocent civilians.
'The money was all exchanged off the books'
"What is shocking is that there were set rates: 100 million lire [£45,000] (from 1992-95) for a child or a young girl; 70 million [£30,000] for a woman; 50 million [£22,000] for a man; and just under 20 million [£9,000] for a very elderly person," he said.
"These rates were confirmed in a recent Times article by Tom Kington, which cites an investigation by a Croatian journalist who confirms - through a different perspective and sources - the same pricing I found.
"The money was all exchanged off the books, in suitcases or bags, in cash. The organisation was based in Belgium and had contacts in individual European countries whose role was to find wealthy clients."
A timeline of the Sarajevo 'human safari' allegations
5 April 1992
The Siege of Sarajevo begins. For almost four years, the 400,000 inhabitants of the city suffer from shelling and snipers, with many cut off from food, water, medicine and electricity.
Late 1993
Bosnian military intelligence officer Edin Subasic comes across testimony from a Serbian volunteer. He later tells El País the man spoke about seeing ‘five Italians who had hunting equipment and expensive weapons’ who described themselves as ‘hunters who paid Serbs in Sarajevo to shoot people in the city’.
29 February 1996
The Siege of Sarajevo ends.
2007
Former US Marine John Jordan testifies to the International Criminal Court about ‘tourist shooters’. He said: “I never saw one of these tourist shooters take a shot. I just saw them being handled and moved around known sniper positions.
“It was clearly obvious that the person being led by men who were familiar with the ground was completely unfamiliar with the ground, and his manner of dress and the weapons they carried led me to believe they were tourist shooters.”
2014
Luca Leone writes in his book The B***ards of Sarajevo of European tourists paying at checkpoints managed by Serbian paramilitaries in Croatia and Bosnia to shoot civilians in Sarajevo.
2022
The documentary Sarajevo Safari by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic further drags the murky details of the alleged human safaris into the public eye.
The film includes testimony from Subasic and an unnamed Slovenian source who worked for ‘an important American agency’. The latter claims in the film to have seen ‘how, for certain sums of money, strangers would come in to shoot at the surrounded citizens of Sarajevo’.
November 2025
The public prosecutor's office in Milan opens an investigation into claims Italian citizens were involved in the ‘human safaris’, after journalist and author Ezio Gavazzeni filed a legal complaint.
Meanwhile, US congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna says she has opened her own investigation and vows: “If there are any Americans who have engaged in this, they deserve to be charged and prosecuted.”
February 2026
An 80-year-old Italian truck driver allegedly becomes the first suspect investigated over the ‘human safaris’.
Topics: World News, Crime, Europe
Emily Puckering