A key witness at the centre of an investigation into whether wealthy tourists paid thousands to kill unarmed civilians in Sarajevo during the city’s siege in the 1990s has died unexpectedly.
Slavko Aleksic, a Bosnian former militia leader, died in the city of Trebinje, despite having been in good health, The Times reports.
His sudden death comes after an investigation was launched last month in Italy following allegations of ‘human safari’ sniper trips during the Balkan wars – a bloody conflict that left more than 11,000 civilians dead.
Aleksic, 69, commandeered a Jewish cemetery above Sarajevo used by snipers, and according to Serbian lawyer Cedomir Stojkovic, ‘he would have been a crucial witness’ because ‘he could have said who did the shooting and who organised it’.
Croatian investigative journalist Domagoj Margetic added: ‘In November, Aleksic was apparently in good health — and now he has suddenly, and very conveniently, died.’
Last month, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic was accused of being involved in Sarajevo’s ‘human safari’ sniper trips, an allegation he denies.
On November 24, Aleksic gave an interview on Serbian television and insisted the president had had no involvement in sniper activity.
‘Aleksic was alive and well then, did not announce a fatal illness and, on the contrary, said he would testify in favour of Vucic,’ Margetic said.
A Bosnian soldier returns fire as he and civilians came under fire in 1992. It has been alleged that tourists from Italy, the US, Russia and other countries paid thousands to hunt innocent people
A video of a Toyota allegedly used by militia leader Slavko Aleksic, with a human skull from a Bosnian corpse, during the siege of Sarajevo
On December 12, Aleksic told a radio show that he was in hospital in Belgrade, according to Margetic, after reportedly being taken from Bosnia to Belgrade’s military hospital by Serbia’s secret service.
Meanwhile, Stojkovic said: ‘It’s reasonable to think Aleksic’s death was linked to the ‘human safari’ probe and that Serbian intelligence was involved’.
Margetic has appealed to war crimes prosecutors to stop any cremation or burial planned for Aleksic, and to hold a post mortem to check the body for poison.
His death also came shortly after a macabre video resurfaced of a car allegedly used by him featuring a human skull on the bonnet – said to be extracted from a Bosnian corpse – wearing a UN helmet.
The investigation into Sarajevo’s mass killings followed a 2022 documentary called ‘Sarajevo Safari’ directed by Miran Zupanič, which made the claim that elite gun enthusiasts from Russia, Canada and the U.S. made weekend trips to the hills of Sarajevo to shoot at innocent civilians for fun, paying more to target children.
Survivors of the Sarajevo massacres have since said they want the death penalty for the sick tourists who allegedly paid to shoot at civilians during the war.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has denied any involvement with the ‘human safari’ sniper trips during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, when wealthy tourists allegedly paid to shoot at unarmed civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo
Locals now hope the new inquiry launched in Milan could finally expose whether foreigners travelled to the front lines to take potshots at trapped residents.
Prosecutors acted after Italian journalist and writer Ezio Gavazzeni filed a formal complaint claiming that visitors paid Bosnian Serb fighters between £70,000 to £88,000 for trips to sniper positions.
