On Monday, the Austrian Ministry of Justice confirmed that since April, an investigation has been underway against an Austrian citizen suspected of visiting Sarajevo, the capital, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he allegedly shot at civilians with a sniper rifle (a case known as “Sarajevo Safari”). This information comes from a parliamentary inquiry by Alma Zadić, former Minister of Justice and current Green Party spokesperson for judicial affairs.
“Before an Austrian Prosecutor’s Office, since April 25, 2026, an investigative procedure has been underway against one Austrian citizen and another, as yet unknown, perpetrator, related to possible participation in so-called ‘sniper tours’ in Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” stated the Ministry of Justice in a response published by the Austrian newspaper Der Standard.
Zadić expressed her satisfaction with the initiation of the investigation: “The reports on these inhuman acts shook me deeply, as well as many others. In this case, the accusation concerns the most serious war crimes, which must be investigated. They must be fully interrogated and prosecuted. There must be no room for impunity.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, information about the status of the investigation cannot yet be disclosed. However, this is not a matter of preliminary checks, but an official investigative procedure within the jurisdiction, indicating there are valid suspicions against the man. It is unclear which criminal offenses are the bases of the investigation. The Office of the Senior Public Prosecutor in Vienna, in response to a query from the Standard regarding this case, stated that “for tactical reasons related to the investigation, no information can currently be disclosed.”
The case, known as the “Sarajevo Safari,” was initiated by Italian journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni, whose report to the Prosecutor’s Office in Milan led to the opening of an investigation against individuals who, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, paid for weekend sniper tours to shoot at civilians in Sarajevo.
The siege of Sarajevo began on April 5, 1992, and ended on February 29, 1996, lasting 1,425 days. It is estimated that about 500,000 projectiles were fired into the city during the siege. On average, 329 grenades were launched into the city each day.
During that period, around 350,000 citizens were exposed to daily shootings by members of the former Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and paramilitary formations, and later by members of the then Army of Republika Srpska, using almost all types of ammunition from positions on the surrounding hills.
During the siege, 11,541 citizens of Sarajevo were killed, including 1,601 children. According to post-war research, most citizens – almost four-fifths of the total number killed – died in the first two years of the war.
For terrorizing civilians during the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals sentenced the wartime Commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić, and the wartime Vice-President of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, to life in prison. The Hague Tribunal also sentenced the Commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska, Stanislav Galić, to life in prison for the siege of Sarajevo. Dragomir Milošević, Momčilo Perišić, and other senior officers of the Army of Republika Srpska were also sentenced.
