Thirty years later, Bosnian genocide survivor speaks out about ‘sniper tourism’

It was an ordinary afternoon in Sarajevo in May 1995. Djemil Hodzic, 12, and his brother Amel, 16, were playing nearby, surrounded by the laughter of children and parents. Amel is playing tennis while Jamil and his friends are busy playing marbles. Suddenly, Amel became stiff, had difficulty breathing, and pressed a hand on his chest. Within seconds, red stains appeared on his white T-shirt. It took several seconds for the other children to realize that Amer had been shot by a sniper from the surrounding hills. “Amer was the tallest of our kids – he was an easy target,” Jamil recalled painfully. Their mother, a nurse, had just returned from the night shift and was making lunch for the children. An ambulance was called, but Amell died in her legs before the ambulance arrived. Cemil, who interacted with TOI via email, believes his brother was not only the victim of sniper fire but also a victim of what was later described as “sniper tourism” – one of the darkest accusations to emerge from the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, which pitted the Bosnian Serb army of Republika Srpska against the forces of the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. March 1992, Yugoslavia. “Sniper tourism” involves wealthy foreigners paying Bosnian Serb soldiers large sums to shoot Bosnian civilians from hilltop positions overlooking Sarajevo during the siege. The siege of Sarajevo remains the longest siege of the capital in modern history. The war started after the Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) declared independence from Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serb leaders, who seek a “Greater Serbia”, opposed the move, triggering a conflict that has killed nearly 100,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. The specter of “sniper tourism” has recently resurfaced after Italian authorities launched an investigation in November 2025 into claims that some of its citizens may be involved.The investigation was triggered by a 17-page complaint filed by Italian journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni, who alleged that wealthy foreigners, including Italians, were paid $90,000 to $115,000 to shoot civilians, with additional payments for children.Cemil has also started a project called “Sniper Alley” to record eyewitness accounts and create an online archive of photos taken during the siege. “I find it important to ensure that the world does not forget the hell Bosnians have been through while many of those responsible remain free and unpunished,” he said.Survivor Elsa, 50, who asked that only her first name be used, called reports of “sniper tourism” “despicable and horrific” as she recounted the horrors of war. “During the war, I was a teenager and I had many friends. We would meet in underground spaces. Every time I saw my friends, I would try to remember their faces, fearing that it might be the last time we would see each other,” Erza recalled. Another survivor, Harun Mehmedinovic, 42, now a Bosnian-American filmmaker, said most were killed by snipers as they tried to cross “sniper alley.” “Sniper Alley” refers to Sarajevo’s main avenues, specifically Ulica Zmaja od Bosne and Mesa Selimovic avenues. The two streets form key routes connecting the city center with the industrial area and the airport. “Anyone who doesn’t live in the city center has to walk 1-2 kilometers through that dangerous alley to get drinking water. They are easy targets. ” Habib AlBadawi, a professor at the Lebanese University in Beirut, called the Italian investigation a “moral reckoning.” Albadawi, who authored a research paper titled Hunting Humanity – Paid Killers in Sarajevo and the Milan Investigation, said: “The siege of Sarajevo remains one of the clearest examples of systemic violence against civilians in modern post-World War II Europe. The Milan investigation shows that for some, the killing of civilians in Sarajevo is a traded service,” he said. By the way, several buildings in Sarajevo still bear the marks of gunshots. As Hong Kong travel blogger Chan Siu-kee, who visited the city in 2018, said, “Now the buildings have been turned into ordinary apartments, with advertisements hanging on the roofs and walls, as if nothing happened.”