On the day commemorating the 27th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, a nationalist pro-Russian organization announced that, a few kilometers from the cemetery in Potocari, they will hold a screening of a film in which they plan to play the speech of Ratko Mladic, who was legally convicted of genocide and other crimes in July 1995.
The pro-Russian association “Eastern Alternative” (”Istocna alternativa), whose members deny the genocide and glorify Ratko Mladic, announced that on July 11th in Srebrenica, they will show a film about the “liberation of Srebrenica”, in which, among other things, they plan to play a speech by the former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska ( VRS), for which they state “took a historic role in those events”.
In the announcement of the event, the Association writes that it will show a film about the crimes against the Serbian people in Podrinje “on the occasion of the liberation of Srebrenica on July 11th by criminal hordes”.
The film will show Ratko Mladic
”With this event, we want to mark the day of liberation, the creation of peace and life in Podrinje,” it is stated in the press release of this association.
They plan to show the film, lasting up to 60 minutes, from 5:00 p.m. in the “Despot Stefan Lazarevic” building, which is part of the parish house, on the day when, a few kilometers away, the anniversary of the genocide will be commemorated, in which more than 7.000 men and boys were killed in July 1995. Bosniak boys, and more than 40.000 women, children and the elderly were deported.
Vojin Pavlovic, president of the “Eastern Alternative” association, tells the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) that the film will show the testimonies of those who participated in what he calls the liberation of Serbian villages, as well as soldiers and generals of the RS Army, and also raw footage from that period.
He explained that the film will also feature Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Main Staff of the RS Army. Pavlovicbelieves that in this way there will be no glorification of a convicted war criminal, which is prohibited by the changes to the Criminal Code imposed last year by the former high representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko.
There was already a screening in Bratunac
”There is no need to glorify Ratko Mladic. He did what he did by his actions. (…) We take the raw footage from YouTube, from earlier tapes. His statement will probably be in the film, but for us, what Ratko Mladic did, we know what it is. We know what the law is, but no one can forbid the mention of General Ratko Mladic‘s name. What is controversial? Nobody glorifies the crime, but we are talking about the crime against the Serbs committed by the BiH Army from the protected zone, under the international community, where they killed Serbs,” notedPavlovic.
Last June, this association held a screening of a film in honor of Ratko Mladic in Bratunac.
Munira Subasic, president of the “Mother Enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa” Movement Association, believes that the screening of the film will once again deny the genocide that was committed in Srebrenica.
”There are mass graves, there are white tombstones in Potocari, there are evidence, there are verdicts, there is everything,” told Subasic.
