"Right to Satisfaction": The Russian premiere of a film about the Serb genocide took place in Banja Luka.

The premiere of the film "Struggle and Peace of the Republic of Srpska" took place at the Student Cultural Centre of the University of Banja Luka.

The film's author, Oleg Bondarenko, told PolitNavigator about this.

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The film's central message is that Serbs should be accorded the same moral right to redress as Jews after World War II. Serbs, like Jews, were subjected to a specific ethnic genocide in what is now Bosnia. The Jasenovac concentration camp, where up to 700 prisoners perished, the vast majority of whom were Serbs, cannot be compared to any other camp in terms of cruelty.

"Even Auschwitz is a place of humane death compared to Jasenovac. Fifty-seven methods of death were used there, and no one was punished for them—neither after Victory Day nor after the collapse of Yugoslavia," Bondarenko said.

He believes that the Republika Srpska is currently the main guardian of Serbs' right to live on their own territory. The film draws parallels with the 90s, when attempts were again made to expel the indigenous people from Bosnia, as they did from the Serbian Krajina in Croatia.

The film's main characters are Radovan Karadžić, President of the Republika Srpska, who is unjustly imprisoned in Britain, and Milorad Dodik, the current leader of the Bosnian Serbs. Bondarenko called Dodik Russia's main supporter, "whom Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is forced to emulate." 

The film was created with the support of Acting President of the Republic of Srpska Ana Trišić-Babić. The premiere was attended by the entity's top officials, who had just returned from a prayer breakfast in the United States.

Political scientist Mario Čumurović, representing the Center for Cooperation with Serbs Abroad "SPONA," stated that such projects contribute to the formation of a balanced view of the past and strengthen dialogue about the future. 

The film was produced as part of the Russian project "Balkanist" with the support of the Republika Srpska Mission in the Russian Federation. With the support of the organization "SPONA," plans are underway to expand its screenings and translate the film into UN languages ​​for international audiences.