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LONDON: Allegations that wealthy foreigners paid to shoot civilians during the siege of Sarajevo are being investigated by Italian prosecutors.

The claims, made by investigative journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, add that people from the US, UK, Russia and elsewhere paid Serbian forces the equivalent of up to €100,000 ($115,900) to fire at inhabitants of the Bosnian city in the 1990s.

It was supposedly organized by troops loyal to Radovan Karadzic, who was later convicted of genocide.

Gavazzeni told La Repubblica: “(There was) a price tag for these killings; children cost more, then men, preferably in uniform and armed, women, and finally old people, who could be killed for free.”

He added: “They departed Trieste (in northeast Italy) for a manhunt. And then they came home and continued their normal lives. They were respectable in the opinion of those who knew them.”

Gavazzeni continued: “There were Germans, French, English … people from all Western countries who paid large sums of money to be taken there to shoot civilians.”

“There were no political or religious motivations. They were rich people who went there for fun and personal satisfaction. We are talking about people who love guns who perhaps go to shooting ranges or on safari in Africa.”

Italian prosecutors are working with the specialist Carabinieri anti-terror and organized crime unit, the Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, to identify those possibly involved in Italy after a case was filed by the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic.

She told Italy’s ANSA news agency: “An entire team of tireless people are fighting to have this complaint heard.”

Gavazzeni said that he had spoken to a Bosnian intelligence officer who claimed to have knowledge of the macabre practice from a captured Serbian soldier, and that he had also identified a number of Italians involved.

Nicola Brigida, a lawyer working with Gavazzeni, told the Guardian: “The evidence accumulated after a long investigation is well substantiated and could lead to serious investigation to identify the culprits. There is also the report from the former Sarajevo mayor.”

It is not the first time such allegations have been made. In 2007 a former US marine, John Jordan, told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that he knew of “tourist shooters” who came to Sarajevo “to take pot shots at civilians for their own gratification.”

He noted that one man had turned up with a rifle “more suited to wild boar than to urban combat.”

The city, surrounded by hills to use as vantage points, became notorious for sniper shootings during the siege, which was the longest of any city in modern European history, and saw about 11,500 people killed.

Italian intelligence agency SISMI also said during the tribunal that “weekend snipers” had taken part in killings in Sarajevo during the siege. At least one case, involving Russian nationalist Eduard Limonov, is known to have taken place, after he was filmed in 1992 firing at the city alongside Karadzic.

British journalist Tim Judah, who was based in the area, told the Telegraph: “It is possible that there were people willing to pay to do this. But I don’t think the numbers would have been very large.”

A spokesperson for the Bosnian consulate in Milan said: “We are impatient to discover the truth about such a cruel matter in order to close a chapter of history. I am in possession of certain information I will be sharing with the investigators.”