The Church of Saint Demetrius, within the complex of the Castle of King Nikola, is state property.
That was the decision of judge Danilo Jegdić, who accepted the claim of the state and the Center for Contemporary Art to return the building "used by the Metropolis"...
He obliged the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral to hand over the Palace Chapel (church) within 15 days of the verdict becoming final.
Jegdić, as unfounded, rejected the counterclaim, which sought to establish that the Serbian Church acquired the right of ownership to that immovable property.
The judge believes that the Metropolis could not acquire the right to ownership by maintaining the building and that they did not provide any evidence that the building was ever in their possession.
MCP priests Velibor Džomić, Dragan Mitrović and Boris Brajović testified earlier that Archpriest Milija Lačković was the elder of that church from 1945 to the nineties... They explained that, after Milija retired, the church was usurped by the communist authorities , who used it as a warehouse-mortuary.
"The non-aligned Gallery at the time, without our knowledge, changed the lock and turned the church into a warehouse. "In order to prevent further desecration and devastation of the church, the SPC took over the building again in November 1992," said Mitrović.
Džomić also emphasized that the church cannot possibly be for the needs of one family and that the fact that it was built by Prince Nikola does not mean that it is his...
"In Orthodoxy, there are no churches that serve the needs of one family. Prince Nikola received founding rights, which are not the same as ownership rights. It was an open facility, which was used by all the citizens of the then Lješkopolj parish," said Džomić.
In the lawsuit, the state states that the palace complex is their property according to the Law on State Property, but that they are prevented from using the State Chapel (church), so they ask that it be returned to the Center for Contemporary Art.
The representatives of the Metropolis, in their counterclaim, point out that they have never had any problems with the current Center of Contemporary Art, nor has it ever been mentioned that it is theirs, and that it is indisputable that it is a religious building, so they wonder since when is the state the owner of sacred buildings.
The CPC also asked to be involved in the dispute, stating that they also performed rites in the church, but that the Metropolis changed the doors of that religious building and thus made it impossible for them to do so. The judge rejected such request of the CPC.
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