Serbian-Canadian director Boris Malagurski’s film ''Republika Srpska: The Struggle for Freedom'' has received backlash from around the world for whitewashing war crimes during the Bosnian war, eventually causing the film's screenings to be canceled throughout Europe.
Malagurski announced in late September that his film would be premiering across Europe in multiple cities that he would also personally attend.
The first reaction to the film came from the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, which claimed that it 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-Herzegovina, addressed the mayor of Salzburg, Austria in a letter, requesting the cancellation of the film's screening.
Karic said the film serves as "propaganda.” The screening of the film was later canceled.
