Marine who witnessed tourists 'paying thousands' to shoot innocent people recalled what he saw
US Marine John Jordan was called to The Hague in 2007, where he appeared before the United Nations-led international criminal tribunal
Following the news that public prosecutors this week opened an investigation into 'tourists' allegedly taking part in 'sniper safaris' during the Bosnian war, a former Marine's tear-jerking testimony has been unearthed.
The investigation will be fronted by prosecution teams in Milan, given that many of those accused of these crimes were said to have been Italian citizens, in light of claims that they paid upwards of $90,000 (£70,000) to shoot the innocent.
As per the allegations, rich gun enthusiasts travelled to Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, in the 1990s in the midst of the country's four-year siege by Serb-Bosnian militias.
Over 10,000 people were killed, specifically by snipers and shelling, during the Eastern European warfare between the years of 1992 and 1996, after both Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia.
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It wasn't just soldiers said to have been responsible for the mass murders, however, but wealthy tourists who supposedly paid for the right to kill from hidden Serb positions in the hills around the capital.
Over the years, increasingly harrowing accounts of this instance have been made public - including one from former US Marine, John Jordan.
The soldier was called to The Hague in 2007, where he appeared before the United Nations-led international criminal tribunal.
Recalling his time in former Yugoslavia - where he volunteered in the war-torn capital as a UN firefighter between 1992-95 - he claimed he'd been stationed in Sarajevo during a record-breaking siege, and told his role was to help civilians.
Appearing before the tribunal, Jordon recalled the horrors he was subjected to witnessing each and every day.
Presiding judge Patrick Robinson began the legal proceedings at the time, telling attendees: "There was no safe place in Sarajevo. Someone could be killed and injured anywhere and at any time."
The heartbreak Jordan observed reportedly included the ruthless targeting of innocent unarmed residents by Serbian militants - in particular, families with young children, in a bid to 'cause more pain to survivors'.
"If an adult and a child were walking together, the child would be shot," he recalled. "If a family was walking, it would be the youngest. In a crowd of girls, it seems the most attractive one would be shot."
Jordan revealed he'd, too, been shot in the chest whilst returning fire on the frontlines.
Arguably, the most harrowing revelation made by the former solider was that 'tourists' had been invited to Sarajevo, armed with 'hunting rifles', and had paid money to shoot civilians from the Serbian side.
During his testimony, Jordan continued: "I have seen on more than one occasion personnel who did not appear to me to be locals by their clothing, by the weapons they carried, by the way they were treated, that is, being instructed by locals."
Asked to provide further detail, he claimed these 'tourist shooters' wore a mix of 'civilian military' to make them indistinguishable from Serbs, yet carried weapons more apt for 'hunting boars in the Black Forest than for urban combat in the Balkans'.
Jordan added that these groups were 'completely unfamiliar' with the terrain on which they hunted, and were often seen 'being led, almost by the hand, around an area by people who know it'.
His claim was also corroborated by journalist Ezio Gavazzeni, who recently described a 'manhunt' by 'very wealthy people' at the time, who allegedly 'paid to be able to kill defenceless civilians' from Serb positions.
"There were no political or religious motivations," he told press. "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."
According to The Guardian, Gavazzeni claimed that many of these individuals were Italian, who met in the city of Trieste before travelling to the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
"There was a traffic of war tourists who went to there to shoot people. I call it an indifference towards evil," he alleged, also claiming to have been called recently to identify alleged 'tourists'.
It's expected that more will be questioned by prosecutors in Milan in the coming weeks.
Topics: World News, Crime
Rhianna Benson