Across The Balkans: Bosnian Serbs Celebrate ‘Statehood Day’ Despite Ban | Djokovic’s Visa Victory

Bosnian Serbs in Banja Luka are marking 30 years since they proclaimed their own entity - Republika Srpska. But Bosnia's Constitutional Court has declared their January 9th 'Statehood Day' illegal. For Bosniaks and Croats, the day feels like a celebration of the ethnic violence that soon followed its declaration. The weekend also saw incidents across Bosnia, with gun fire going off near mosques during prayers and public praise for convicted war criminals. Semir Sejfovic reports from Banja Luka. And we interview Balkan historian Marko Attila Hoare.

Plus, the world's top tennis player, Serbian Novak Djokovic, won his appeal against the cancellation of his visa days after he was denied entry into Melbourne to compete at the Australian Open. His vaccination exemption - which was a recent COVID-19 infection - wasn't initially accepted. For anti-vaxxers and COVID sceptics, Djokovic has become a hero, but to many others his actions provoked outrage. We speak with sports journalist Sasa Ozmo.

Across The Balkans, hosted by Nafisa Latic, is TRT World’s programme that focuses specifically on the issues and fault lines shaping Southeast Europe today.

Watch other episodes of ‘Across the Balkans’: http://trt.world/fvfp


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