The Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature condemned, as they stated, the "shameful and dangerous prosecution of 35 citizens" for protesting in front of Vila Gorica on July 8th, on the occasion of the awarding of the Thirteenth of July Award to Bećir Vuković, for a book that did not even exist at that time.
As they announced, among those prosecuted is the dean of that faculty, Aleksandar Radoman.
"Regarding such a decision by the Ministry of Culture, made without any criteria, and which represents a gross humiliation of Montenegrin literature and culture, citizens peacefully expressed their revolt, and the state responded with violence. Instead of protecting citizens, police officers pepper-sprayed them, pushed them and intimidated them. A few months later, instead of an apology, retaliation followed. After the Basic Prosecutor's Office dismissed the charges, the police filed misdemeanor charges for 'obstructing and belittling' police officers," the statement reads.
They find it unacceptable and worrying that the Police Directorate and the Ministry of Internal Affairs "show enviable efficiency when dealing with citizens who defend the dignity of their state:
"While at the same time, they silently watched as Serbian intelligence agents paraded through Montenegro for days, intimidating foreign citizens and anyone who opposed them, spreading hate speech on the streets of the capital. The police did not file a single report against the participants in those gatherings. They did not find those who, more than five months ago, violently interrupted the screening of a film in the Albanian language in the center of Podgorica. We are witnesses that for days they did not intervene even in the case of preventing the implementation of an infrastructure project without which Montenegro cannot close key chapters on its path to the EU. But they see banners against the awarding of the highest state award to the poet and kleptomaniac Bećir Vuković as the ultimate threat to public order and peace," the statement reads.
They add that the proven selective and politically motivated application of the law is neither random nor neutral.
"It is about the systematic toleration and incitement of violence when it comes from actors close to the Greater Serbian ideology and parapolitical structures, while at the same time brutally suppressing every form of civic courage, anti-fascist resistance and the fight for truth. Today's prosecution of citizens who protected the honor of Montenegrin culture is a message that rebellion is only permitted when directed by someone from Belgrade."
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They said they would not remain silent "in the face of this attempted intimidation, and that they would stand by every individual who defended the public interest, truth and dignity at that rally."
"We have no illusions that the Ministry of Culture, which is persistently trying to humiliate and make culture meaningless, will answer any questions regarding the violation of the law and the shameful awarding of the July 13th Prize. We also do not expect the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Administration to punish those who have been spreading hatred on the streets for days, threatening foreign citizens, insulting minority peoples and sabotaging the European path - because we know that they do not want to see them. But we will not remain silent when those who raised their voices against the humiliation of the state are prosecuted. We will not pretend that it is normal for citizens to be dragged through the courts because they refused to agree to a lie. We will not get used to the fact that repression is called order, and humiliation is a reward. Montenegro will not become a country where such things happen without resistance. And that is why we will not stop saying what every institution that respects itself in a decent country would have to say. And the regime's thugs, as always throughout history, will end up among the shameful and forgotten," the statement from the Faculty of Montenegrin Language states. and literature.
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