A World in Shock: Sarajevo “Human Safari” Allegations Expose Privilege and Impunity

Just when the world is grappling with how silence and power allowed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to commit genocide and war crimes in Gaza, another story from shakes us to the core. Sarajevo so-called Human Safari is not a simple war-crime narrative, it is a haunting portrait of how privilege can weaponize violence.

Milan prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into chilling claims: that ultra-wealthy foreigners paid to take sniper positions and shoot civilians during the 1992–1996 Siege of Sarajevo. The inquiry stems from a 17-page complaint filed by journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, bolstered by the 2022 documentary Sarajevo Safari.

According to the dossier, rich gun-enthusiasts, not just Italians, but allegedly individuals from the United States, Canada, Russia, and other Western countries, paid Bosnian Serb forces as much as €80,000 to €100,000 to be escorted from Trieste to Belgrade, then transported to sniper nests overlooking Sarajevo, where they allegedly shot at unarmed civilians.

Prosecutor Alessandro Gobbi is treating the case as “voluntary homicide aggravated by cruelty and abject motives.” The investigation, initiated in Milan, marks the first formal cross-border attempt to address what survivors have long whispered about, what they call “tourist snipers.”

At the same time, lawmakers in the United States have launched their own investigation, with Congressmember Anna Paulina Luna officially probing whether any Americans were involved in the sniper tourism. Reports also suggest that Canadian links are under scrutiny, given testimony that some so-called “tourists” came from Canada.

For decades, Sarajevo’s siege survivors have shared muted recollections of these so-called “sniper tourists” - weekend visitors flown in for recreation, allegedly firing on children, women, and elderly people, simply because they could. Some testimonies even reference a sinister “price list” charging more to kill children.

One family still reels from the memory: their one-year-old daughter, Irina Cisić, was crossing the street with her mother when she was shot. Was it a Serb soldier — or a sniper tourist, who pulled the trigger? Why the sniper targeted the child and not an adult beside her? The very thought reopens old wounds among residents who survived sniper fire, starvation, and bombardment during Europe’s longest modern siege.

If charges follow, this could set a historic precedent: the first European criminal prosecution for civilians allegedly paid to murder during the siege. But this isn’t only about war crimes, it’s about a twisted form of “safari” that commodified human life. And it forces a terrifying question: Where else did this happen?

At its core, this is a story about power,the power of money, nationality, and impunity. The notion that affluent individuals could pay to kill echoes other scandals of privilege and exploitation. It is eerily reminiscent of Jeffrey Epstein saga: powerful, wealthy people operating in networks that shield them, while survivors remain voiceless.

Elite status can delay justice for years, even decades, that lesson remains painfully clear. Now, the same structures of privilege may be re-emerging in a different form. As voices such as New York elected mayor Zohran Mamdani argue, power is more than wealth: it’s about protection, access, and impunity.

Those who had the means to travel to besieged Sarajevo, to pay, and to sit in sniper nests may have benefitted from networks that still shape our world. If this goes unanswered, the message is devastatingly simple: privilege still buys you out of accountability.

This isn’t just a Balkan story. It is a test for our global moral order. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once said, “the world is bigger than five,” referring to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, a stark reminder that justice must not be confined to the powerful few.

The Milan investigation could be our turning point. It must challenge the idea that wealth and Western identity provide moral immunity. Whether in Sarajevo, Gaza, New York, or Istanbul, every person has a right to justice. No passport, no bank balance, should shield someone from accountability.

If this probe leads to real consequences, it could reshape how we hold the privileged to account for war crimes, both past and present. The fight for that change is now more than ever, while Gaza is still being bombarded, significant for Bosnia and Palestine both.