Kenneth Glad
A new book has revived grim questions about foreign visitors who were said to have entered wartime Sarajevo’s killing zones. The most explosive claim involves an unnamed European royal, but the account has not been tested in court.
Others are reading now
Fresh reporting has brought old wartime accusations back into public view. The claims involve foreign visitors, sniper positions around Sarajevo and denials from figures accused of links to the story.
A book by Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic has brought renewed attention to allegations that foreigners paid to shoot civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, LADbible writes.
The book, titled Plati i pucaj – Tajne sarajevskih ljudskih safarija (translation: Pay and Shoot – Secrets of Sarajevo’s Human Safaris) includes a new claim about an unnamed European royal.
Margetic says part of his account is based on documents he claims were given to him by Bosnian intelligence officer Nedzad Ugljen, who was killed in 1996.
LADbible reports that the documents cited by Margetic had a price system in German marks.
The sums were said to be 80,000 German marks for middle-aged civilians, 95,000 German marks for young women and 110,000 German marks for pregnant women.
Converted to euros and adjusted roughly for inflation, that would equal about €77,000, €92,000 and €106,000 today.
Denials and doubts
Margetic told The Times: “Ugljen also wrote the foreigners competed to see who could shoot the most beautiful women.”
He furthermore said that militia members described the presence of a royal figure:
“Many of them told me a European royal was among the shooters. He would arrive by helicopter, stay in Vogosca near Sarajevo and wanted to shoot at children.”
The BBC has separately reported that Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic denied claims linking him to wartime sniper activity around Sarajevo.
Vucic called the allegation a “lie” and said he had “never killed anyone, wounded anyone, or done anything similar.”
He also said he had “never held a sniper rifle in my life,” adding that images said to show him with such a weapon actually showed him carrying a “camera tripod.”
Wider investigation
Italian prosecutors opened an investigation in November 2025 after writer Ezio Gavazzeni filed a complaint about alleged Italian involvement in what has been described as “sniper tourism,” the BBC adds.
The allegations drew wider attention after the 2022 Slovenian documentary Sarajevo Safari, which examined claims that wealthy outsiders traveled to Sarajevo to fire on civilians during the war.
Still, major questions remain. The BBC reported that the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague said it had no information about the allegations.
Bosnia’s war crimes prosecutor received a complaint in 2022 but has not issued an indictment.
Sarajevo’s siege, from April 1992 to February 1996, is a documented chapter of the Bosnian war. More than 11,000 people died as the city endured shelling, shortages and sniper fire.
The alleged paid shooting trips remain the subject of complaints, journalism and denial, not proven court findings.
No published translations of Margetic’s book are currently publicly listed.
Sources: LADbible, BBC, The Times, Sarajevo Safari (YouTube)
