Austria has launched a legal probe into two individuals, including one citizen, suspected of paying to kill civilians during the Bosnian War. The investigation focuses on "sniper safaris" in Sarajevo where foreigners allegedly treated the siege as a hunting ground.

Alma Zadic's push for accountability in Austria

The Austrian justice ministry has officially opened an investigation into an Austrian citizen and one other unidentified person.. This legal move follows persistent pressure from Alma Zadic, a member of the Austrian Green Party and former justice minister, who utilized parliamentary inquiries to demand that these alleged war crimes be addressed. According to the report, Zadic has emphasized that the targeting of children and innocent civilians for sport represents a level of cruelty that cannot be met with impunity.

The probe seeks to determine if these individuals participated in paid human hunting trips, a practice that transforms the brutality of war into a commercialized sport for the wealthy. By initiating this process, the Austrian government is attempting to uncover the identities of those who viewed the suffering of others as a luxury excursion.

The 110,000-mark price tag for human targets

The financial structure of these alleged safaris was disturbingly precise. As reported, the cost to participate was tiered based on the perceived "value" of the target; while middle-aged adults required a significant payment, the price peaked for pregnant women. Some participants allegedly paid up to 110,000 marks for the most expensive targets, while basic targets cost approximately 80,000 marks.

These wealthy tourists, hailing from Russia, North America, and Europe, reportedly operated from a Jewish cemetery overlooking Sarajevo.. From this vantage point, they allegedly competed to kill the most beautiful women, celebrating their successes with late-night parties. This behavior highlights a grotesque intersection of wealth and warfare, where the lives of Bosnian civilians were reduced to commodities in a sick game of sport.

Domagoj Margetic's 'Pay and Shoot' dossier

Much of the evidence driving the current legal momentum comes from the book Pay and Shoot, written by Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic. margetic claims to have a dossier provided by the late Nedzad Ugljen, a Bosnian intelligence officer, which details the financial transactions used to fund these killings. The reporting suggests that these safaris were not random acts of cruelty but were highly organized operations.

Interestingly, Margetic's findings suggest that the conceptual origin of these sniper tours may have been in Croatia rather than Serbia. The journalist alleges that former Yugoslav intelligence operatives were involved in the organization, suggesting a deeper level of state-sponsored or intelligence-led orchestration than previously understood.

The 44-month siege and the terror of Sniper Alley

These alleged crimes took place against the backdrop of the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, one of the longest and most devastating urban sieges in modern history. During this period, Bosnian Serb forces cut off food and electricity, leaving the population vulnerable to constant shelling and cannon fire. The city became a landscape of terror, most notably along the infamous "Sniper Alley," where civilians had to rely on UN armored vehicles for safe passage.

The atmosphere of the siege was documented by international witnesses, including John Jordan, a former US Marine who volunteered as a firefighter in Sarajevo. jordan later provided testimony at The Hague regarding the atrocities he witnessed. The existence of the "safaris" suggests that while UN peacekeepers and volunteers were risking their lives to save civilians, wealthy foreigners were paying for the privilege of killing them.

The mystery of the European royal and the helicopter arrivals

One of the most explosive claims in the source material is the allegation that a European royal participated in these hunts. The report mentions claims that this individual arrived via helicopter specifically to target children, which would elevate the scandal from a criminal matter to a major political crisis for European nobility.

However, several critical details remain unverified. The identity of the "unidentified person" currently under investigation by Austria has not been disclosed, and the specific European royal mentioned in Margetic's book remains unnamed in the report. Furthermore, while the Austrian and Italian governments have begun probes, it remains unclear if other nations—particularly those from which the wealthy tourists originated—will launch their own investigations into these alleged war crimes.