A Bosnian former militia leader at the centre of an investigation into whether wealthy Europeans paid to kill civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s has died in mysterious circumstances.
Slavko Aleksic, 69, who commanded sniper positions overlooking Sarajevo during the Balkan wars, died in Trebinje, Bosnia, the government news agency reported.
His death comes a month after an Italian magistrate announced an investigation into new evidence that wealthy hunters paid Bosnian Serb forces for the chance to shoot residents of Sarajevo during the siege of the city during the 1990s that left more than 11,500 dead.
• Wealthy foreigners ‘paid for chance to shoot civilians in Sarajevo’
Investigators are looking into reports that Italy’s secret services stopped Italian snipers travelling from Trieste to take part in the “human safari”. At the time, Aleksic — a post-office worker turned militia leader — commandeered a Jewish cemetery perched above Sarajevo used by snipers and drove a car with a human skull wearing a UN helmet on the bonnet.
“He could have said who did the shooting and who organised it. He would have been a crucial witness,” said Cedomir Stojkovic, a Serbian lawyer. Domagoj Margetic, a Croatian investigative journalist, added: “In November, Aleksic was apparently in good health — and now he has suddenly, and very conveniently, died.”
Last month Margetic alleged that Aleksandar Vucic, 55, the Serbian president since 2017, was involved in organising the so-called safaris. The accusation drew a fierce rebuttal from Vucic’s spokeswoman, who said Vucic was in the area at the time but working as a journalist.
Bosnian fighters in Sarajevo in 1992, where they engaged in battle with Serbian irregulars
GEORGES GOBET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
After the war, Aleksic continued to live in Bosnia and gave a interview to Serbian TV on November 24 in which he denied Vucic had been involved 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.
• His job is to keep Bosnia peaceful — now he must take on Putin too
On December 12, Aleksic rang a radio show and said he was in hospital in Belgrade, Margetic added. He said he was told by a source that Aleksic had been taken from Bosnia to Belgrade’s military hospital by Serbia’s secret service. “It’s reasonable to think Aleksic’s death was linked to the ‘human safari’ probe and that Serbian intelligence was involved,” said Stojkovic.
Margetic said: “A source in a hospital in Bosnia told me Aleksic’s body was brought back to Bosnia so he could be declared dead there.”
Margetic has appealed to war crimes prosecutors in Bosnia to stop any cremation or burial planned for Aleksic, and to hold a post mortem to check the body for poison.
Asked whether Serbian intelligence was involved in Aleksic’s death, a spokesperson for Vucic said: “This person died in another country. Please read the serious news, not Domagoj Margetic.”
The Bosnian Serb nationalist politician Milorad Dodik paid tribute to Aleksic, calling him “a great patriot who left an indelible mark on the history of the Serbian people”. He wrote on X: “May he be eternally glorified and thanked for everything he did for his people and homeland.”