In his letter to prosecutors, Margetić cites a 1993 video and purported wartime interviews, along with testimony from Bosnian officials as evidence that Vučić was a “war volunteer” in Sarajevo in 1992 and 1993, and a member of the New Sarajevo Chetnik Detachment of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). He further alleges that Vučić spent several months stationed at a frontline position at Sarajevo’s Jewish cemetery.
Responding to the allegations about the 1993 footage, which allegedly shows him holding a sniper rifle alongside other armed men at the cemetery, Vučić insisted: “I have never in my life held a sniper rifle. I didn’t even have the rifle you’re talking about, because that is a camera tripod.”
Margetić’s accusations came as prosecutors in Milan opened an inquiry last week into alleged Italian nationals who may have taken part in the so-called sniper safaris, investigating potential charges of aggravated murder.
Investigators are looking into claims that foreign visitors allegedly paid Bosnian Serb troops of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) — operating under the command of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, who was convicted of genocide in 2016 — to transport them to hillside positions around Sarajevo, where they could fire at civilians for sport.
More than 10,000 people were killed in Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996, many by relentless shelling and sniper fire, during what became the longest siege in modern European history, following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. The siege saw Bosnian government forces defending the city against Bosnian Serb troops who encircled Sarajevo from the surrounding hills.
The Italian probe, triggered by a complaint from independent journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni, aims to determine whether the long-rumored “human safaris” occurred and who may have enabled or participated in them.
“We’re talking about wealthy people, with a reputation, entrepreneurs, who during the siege of Sarajevo paid to be able to kill defenseless civilians,” Gavazzeni told La Repubblica.