Civic activists Aleksandar Saša Zeković and Vojin Grubač appealed to the current and former presidents of the Montenegrin Parliament to contribute to revealing the truth about the fate of Jovan S. Plamenac, who was the President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Montenegro.
In an open letter, which "Vijesti" has had access to, they also request that Plamenac's remains be handed over to his descendants, so that they can finally be buried with dignity.
The letter was sent to all presidents of the Parliament of Montenegro since the restoration of independence to the present day - Ranko Krivokapić, Darko Pajović, Ivan Brajović, Aleksa Bečić, Danijela Đurović and Andrija Mandić.
They appealed to them to contribute with their undisputed civic, professional and political authority and reputation: "That the truth about the fate of Jovan S. Plamenac, who was the President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Montenegro, be finally revealed, and that his remains be handed over to descendants so that they can finally be buried with dignity."
"It is assumed that Jovan S. Plamenac, a prominent Montenegrin politician, was taken and killed by partisan units and thrown into one of the pits of the Rijeka or Crmnica nahijas. Private, unofficial efforts to locate his remains have so far yielded no results. Our appeal is not related to your or our political or other beliefs and commitments, and has nothing to do with attempts at revisionism or imposing some alternative narrative. This is an appeal based solely on a humanistic approach, retrospective justice and the need for the state of Montenegro to finally treat all its subjects in a civilized and respectful manner," their letter states.
They also state that the descendants of Jovan S. Plamenac pointed out that the Montenegrin authorities have not responded "to inquiries and requests to obtain information from secret archives about where their ancestor died and how, and where his remains are located."
"Granddaughter Ksenija Plamenac Vidinić clearly emphasized that 'the family does not seek a reexamination of the historical role of the late Jovan S. Plamenac, leader of the Christmas Uprising of 1919 and certainly a very significant historical figure'. She emphasized that this is 'the job of historians', and that they are only 'looking for the bones of their ancestor and information about his murder'," they wrote, referring to statements by Ksenija Plamenac Vidinić, published in "Vijesti" in August 2024.
They also quote another part of the statement from that time, prepared by lawyers Vesna and Sonja Čejović in agreement with Jovan S. Plamenac's granddaughter, Ksenija Plamenac Vidinić:
"While the fallen German soldiers rest in the cemetery guarded by members of our army, the family of Jovan S. Plamenac, the last Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Montenegro, and the acting royal authority after the death of King Nikola, and the minister of various departments, has been asking the Montenegrin authorities in vain for years to enable them to find out where Jovan S. Plamenac was killed without trial, where his remains ended up, and to have them handed over to the family so that they could bury him with dignity," stated last year's appeal by the descendants of Jovan Plamenac, which was implemented through lawyers Vesna and Sonja Čejović.
They also stated that "it is the sacred duty of the state of Montenegro to make this possible, and also to mark the place of his death"...
“We appreciate that your individual or collective commitment to telling the truth could represent a turning point in the institutional and political culture of Montenegro,” Zeković and Grubač stated.
"And when, from Strasbourg, where I live and where the European Court of Human Rights is located, I follow and sympathize with the various human destinies that this court decides, I wonder - didn't my grandfather, if he did something wrong, have the right to a fair and just trial and the right to a dignified death, if he were sentenced to it. And above all, do he and we, as his family from whom the murderers took him, his life and his earthly remains, have the right to a funeral and a grave where we could visit and mourn him," Ksenija Plamenac Vidinić wrote in a letter published by Vijesti last year.
Leader of the Christmas Rebellion
On the website of the Parliament of Montenegro, the biography of Jovan Plamenac states that he was born in 1879 in Boljevići, and that he was the President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Montenegro from 1911 to 1913, as well as a minister, organizer and leader of the Christmas Uprising, and also the President of the Montenegrin Government in exile from February 17, 1919 to June 15, 1921.
“He completed his lower secondary school in Belgrade and two classes of the Teachers' School in Aleksinac, from where he was expelled together with other Montenegrins due to the Ivandanj assassination in 1899. He completed his teachers' school in Pakrac in 1901, and the Faculty of Pedagogy and Philosophy in Germany. After returning to Montenegro, he was appointed as a lecturer at the Theological and Teachers' School in Cetinje, then as a school supervisor in Ulcinj and Podgorica. He was elected as a deputy to the Montenegrin National Assembly in 1906 in his native Crmnica. He was the Minister of Education and Church Affairs (April 4, 1907 - April 2, 1909) in the Government of Lazar Tomanović, as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs (April 2, 1909 - January 24, 1910). He became a member of the State Council and President of the Montenegrin National Assembly in 1911. In the Government of Mitar Martinović, he again held the portfolio of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1912/13), when he resigned due to disagreement with the crown on the issue of Shkodra. As a ruthless opponent of the government and the king, he was dismissed from the civil service in 1914. He was the organizer and inspirer of the armed uprising (Christmas Uprising) against the decisions of the Podgorica Assembly. At the invitation of King Nikola, he left Montenegro and arrived in France via Italy, before the conflict between opponents and supporters of unconditional unification. King Nikola appointed him President of the Montenegrin Government in Emigration on February 17, 1919, and he remained in that position until 1921, when he resigned. Contemporaries attributed to him lust for power, excessive ambition, but also personal honesty, courage, consistency and perseverance, ”it is written on the website of the Assembly.
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