Serbian-Canadian director's film draws flak from Bosnian diaspora

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Serbian-Canadian director Boris Malagurski’s film ''Republika Srpska: The Struggle for Freedom'' has met with strong criticism from the Bosnian diaspora worldwide, causing the film's premier throughout Europe to be canceled.

Malagurski announced in late September that his film would be premiering across Europe in multiple cities where he would also personally take part.

The first reaction to the film came from the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, which claimed that the film denies the Srebrenica genocide and the laws and verdicts of the United Nations’ international courts.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the town in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

The institute launched a petition in an attempt to prevent the film’s premiere in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.

It has attracted 31,000 signatures so far.

The president of the institute’s governing board, Emir Ramic, said they have collected signatures from people in 67 countries who are deeply concerned about the film.

He added that glorifying the perpetrators of genocide is wrong and Malagurski's film encourages "a new genocide."

Malagurski on social media slammed the organizations and people for leading a campaign of hatred against him.

''In our film, we filmed in Srebrenica and condemned what happened there. I call everyone attacking the film without seeing it to watch it first,'' he said.

Benjamina Karic, the mayor of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, addressed the mayor of Salzburg, Austria in a letter, requesting the cancellation of the film.

Karic said the film is serving as “propaganda.”

The screening of the film was later canceled.