Bosnian Serb veteran says Serb President Vucic 'translated for Sarajevo safari snipers'

 ROME - Milan prosecutors looking into the Sarajevo ‘sniper tourism’ case are evaluating how to summon Aleksandar Licanin, a former volunteer in a Bosnian Serb armoured unit who claims to have witnessed the killing of civilians by foreigners during the siege of the city, said La Repubblica.    

 Prosecutors’ interest in speaking with Licanin follows an interview he gave to the London Times, in which he claimed the current President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, was involved in helping the foreign snipers.   

 Licanin, who prior to the Times interview had not spoken publicly about the case, described the foreigners as “pure sadists,” who would shoot women, children and the elderly, paying between 500 and 1000 Deutsche Marks to secure sniper positions in tall buildings.    

 He claimed the visitors would then celebrate the killing of innocent civilians by partying at a local cafe until the early hours, “feasting on meat — roast pig and lamb,” and drinking beer, whisky and cognac.  

 Licanin claimed that Vucic would be present at the cafe, translating for the foreign ‘sniper tourists.’  

 Spokespeople for Vucic have previously dismissed allegations that the Serbian leader was involved in the case as “malicious disinformation.”  

 Claiming to still be plagued by nightmares over what he witnessed, Licanin told the Times that he wanted “the truth to come out,” and was ready to cooperate with the Italian authorities.   

 The development comes after the Milan prosecutors interviewed an 80-year-old Pordenone man as part of the probe.    

 Giuseppe Vegnaduzzo, a former truck driver and metalworker, was called in for questioning after allegedly being witnessed boasting about shooting unarmed civilians in Sarajevo.    

 Reportedly an avowed fascist with a passion for weapons — several legally-owned firearms were found in a police search of his home — Vegnaduzzo denied all allegations made against him during the February 11 interview, said La Repubblica.   

 Vegnaduzzo is one of several Italians under suspicion of taking part in the killings, including a man from Milan, and a banker from Trieste described as a "psychopathic hunter,” and a man from Piemonte who allegedly bragged about targeting women, according to Rai News.   

 The Italian probe into 'sniper tourism' during the Bosnian war of the 1990s opened after Italian writer Ezio Gavazzeni lodged a legal complaint, motivated by the 2022 documentary "Sarajevo Safari" by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic.