The Chetnik orgy is (not) stronger than the state

The prosecution and police showed their powerlessness during yesterday's Chetnik "orgy" in Gornji Zaostr, not even preventing the unveiling of a monument to the notorious Chetnik commander. Pavlo Đurišić in that Berane village, nor the attack on the Vijesti and Pobjeda journalist teams that were covering the event.

However, late last night, the inspection, with the assistance of the police, began demolishing the pedestal, after locals had previously moved the statue to a nearby church, the Police Department told Vijesti.

Photojournalist of Victory Stevo Vasiljevic He was physically abused, and the photographer and journalist Vijesti Boris Pejović i Balša Rudović mentally, after they tried to record the removal of the statue of Đurišić by those who had erected it the day before - the residents of Gornji Zaostar. The incident occurred in full view of two plainclothes police officers, who calmly watched.

No injuries were found to reporters at the Berane hospital.

Berane police detained four people and arrested two after the incident (Danko Femic and Vlado Stijovic). The Police Directorate announced that, if it is determined that there were any omissions by police officers, "legally prescribed measures and actions will be applied against them, without exception."

The unfortunate event was preceded by inflammatory rhetoric at the liturgy held by the Metropolitan of Budimlje-Niksic of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) on the eve of the unveiling of the monument. MethodsHe said that they are not afraid of the state, or "their power, which cannot even bring order to the streets", nor of young people in expensive suits "who have occupied high political and state positions and think they can do as they please and think".

Gorjanc Prelević: The Prosecutor's Office is not working

Executive Director of Human Rights Action (HRA) Tea Gorjanc Prelevic, assessed that the State Prosecutor's Office is not fulfilling its task of preventing incitement to hatred and intolerance, in accordance with international human rights treaties, the Constitution, the Criminal Code and the laws on the prohibition of discrimination and public order and peace, and that the passive stance of that institution "only encourages neo-fascism."

"The second question is why the monument was not immediately removed, as the subject of a criminal offense - the unauthorized erection of a memorial, even though the state prosecutor's office recognized that crime, opened a case, conducted an investigation and ordered the arrest of the suspect," Gorjanc Prelević told Vijesti.

The statue of Đurišić was installed the day before yesterday, discovered yesterday, and removed the same day in the afternoon. The monument was removed by the locals, according to what they claimed was a previous agreement with the police. The day before yesterday, as the Vijesti reporter in Gornji Zaostr was told, she came to the village (at two o'clock after midnight), but the locals did not allow her to remove the monument, after which it was allegedly agreed that they would do it. According to unofficial information from Television Vijesti, Đurišić's statue was moved to the Church of St. Mother Paraskeva in Gornji Zaostr.

The inspector for cultural property of the Ministry of Culture and Media presented the first man of Berane the day before yesterday To Đolo Lutovac (Europe Now Movement) decision ordering the removal of the monument immediately, and within three days at the latest.

Due to the erection of the statue, the Berane police arrested on Thursday Vujadin Dobrašinović and filed a criminal complaint against him for the criminal offense of injury and unauthorized erection of a memorial. The Police Directorate announced that Dobrašinović erected the monument on his own land. After questioning at the local prosecutor's office, he was ordered to be detained for up to 72 hours.

Đurišić still "at large"

However, despite Dobrašinović’s arrest, the Đurišić monument remained “at large”, despite the provisions of the Criminal Code. According to this regulation (Article 75), objects that were used or intended for the commission of a criminal offense or that were created by the commission of such an offense may be confiscated if they are “the property of the perpetrator”. These objects, as stated in the Criminal Code, may be confiscated even when they are not “the property of the perpetrator”, if this is required for reasons of “the safety of people or property or reasons of morality or when there is still a risk that they will be used to commit a criminal offense…”.

Gorjanc Prelević points out that the police deprived Dobrašinović of his liberty, but did not seize the object of the crime "like they seize drugs, guns, and the like."

"But they left it to the inspection. Unusual...", she added.

The Police Department did not respond to Vijesti whether they would "seize" the monument, in accordance with the Criminal Code.

After the statue was transferred to the church, the police began assisting the inspection in demolishing the pedestal, but the leader of Free Montenegro and the acting head of the Citizens' Service in the Capital Vladislav Dajkovic, blocked the road to Gornji Zaostar with a car.

"Police, emergency services, excavators - they are all getting ready to demolish the monument. My position is - they can physically remove me, but first let them go to Gusinje, Plav, Rožaje, and then let them remove the monuments to the butchers of Serbian children there...", Dajković said, as can be heard in a video he posted on his Facebook account.

Gorjanc Prelević stated that they are now watching a "black comedy about the subject of the crime" located in the church, which, according to the text of the "Fundamental Agreement (of the former Prime Minister) Dritan Abazović", the police are not allowed to enter without prior approval from the relevant church authorities.

"It remains to be seen how the state will now respond to this. I would like to remind you that the Human Rights Action warned in a timely manner not to conclude such a provision of the Basic Agreement, because it is contrary to the legal order...", the interviewee reminded.

According to the Basic Agreement between the Government and the Serbian Orthodox Church (Article 7), in buildings and spaces owned by the church, state authorities cannot take security measures without prior approval from the competent church authorities, except in cases where this is required by urgent reasons to protect people's lives and health.

Methodius monument in the center of Berane

The monument was unveiled by Methodius, with the singing of the Serbian anthem and the presence of several hundred admirers of the Chetnik movement.

"Many graduated from military academies and were officers, but few were as inspired as Duke Pavle (Đurišić), such brave and great knights who were respected not only by their comrades, but also by their enemies," he said at the liturgy in the Church of St. Mother Paraskeva, ahead of the assembly of admirers of the Chetnik movement at which the statue was unveiled.

There were several hundred people at the liturgy and the assembly. Those gathered wore Chetnik insignia, T-shirts that read "The Serbian Royal Army in the Fatherland", "Draža is alive, he is not dead, while Serbianness and Serbia are alive", and in addition to Montenegro, they came from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina...

Metodije said that he would place the monument in the church, "so let them come and demolish the church," adding that, "if the people wake up," a statue of Đurišić would also be in the center of Berane.

"The most important thing is that we be like him (Đurišić), that we be faithful to our race, that we know who we are - that we are Serbs, that we are Orthodox. Because many today, who slaughtered us the most in those years, come from our roots. They are ready to wait, like sycophants, for any empire to pass through these regions, in order to put themselves at its service...", he stated.

Metodije also assessed that those who are coming to "tear down the monument" are there on "the orders of the Europeans."

"We are no longer afraid of force - we were not afraid before, and especially not today. Their force, which cannot even restore order in the streets, has come to demolish the monuments of the greatest Serbian knights on the hills... They should not act heroic against us according to the directives of those 'civilian', polished, well-groomed, fine 'Europeans', who give them orders and send them here. They could perhaps have helped this village in some other way - to contribute, to give something, and not to come with force to demolish and destroy," he said.

Chetnik duke Miodrag Gigo Bozovic, he said that in Zaostar "the immortal duke Pavle Đurišić is welcomed by his deputy Vujadin Dobrašinović and the standard bearer Radovan Dubak and the entire Serbian Montenegro".

Vijesti asked the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje whether they had initiated proceedings ex officio or upon a possible report to determine whether the statements of the participants in the rally in Gornji Zaostar, primarily Metodije, contained elements of a criminal offense - inciting national, racial and religious hatred.

According to the Criminal Code (Article 370), anyone who publicly incites violence or hatred against a group or member of a group determined on the basis of race, skin color, religion, origin, language, national or ethnic affiliation shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.

Part of the government remains silent

The erection of the monument the day before yesterday provoked harsh reactions from some state officials, the opposition, and part of the non-governmental sector, who called on the authorities to urgently remove the monument. There were similar reactions yesterday, especially after the attacks on the Vijesti and Pobjeda teams.

Some of the ruling parties are still silent on the erection of a statue to Đurišić. They also remained silent on yesterday's attack on reporters from two daily newspapers.

Đurišić was the supreme Chetnik leader in 1941. Dragoljub Draza Mihailovic appointed one of the commanders of the Chetnik forces in Montenegro. In the following months, Đurišić's intensive collaboration with the Italian and then German occupiers began, during which his Chetniks repeatedly committed massacres of the civilian population.

In Gornji Zaostr, a pedestal for a monument to Đurišić was erected in 2002, and a memorial complex was erected in 2013. However, both were demolished shortly after their erection.

The so-called Voivodeship Council of the United Ravna Gora Movement launched an initiative in 2017 to erect monuments to Đurišić in Berane and Zaostar, and in 2019 the current Deputy Prime Minister and then MP Budimir Aleksic (New Serbian Democracy) called Dragoslav Šćekić (Socialist People's Party), at that time the leader of Berane, to erect a monument to the Chetnik duke.

The Law on Memorials stipulates the prevention of the erection of monuments for events that mark the loss of freedom or independence of Montenegro, symbolize or signify cooperation with the occupier, its ally or helper, as well as for persons who were collaborators of the occupier, its ally or helper, who represented fascist, chauvinist or Nazi ideas or ideologies, who were convicted of a crime against humanity or other goods protected by international law or who were declared war criminals...

According to this regulation, monuments are erected in accordance with the erection program, which is adopted by the municipal assembly, the capital city and the royal capital, with the prior consent of the state administration body responsible for cultural affairs (ministry).

Gorjanc Prelević: What would the prosecution do if Hitler got a monument?

Tea Gorjanc Prelević asks whether the prosecution would protect freedom of expression if a monument to Adolf Hitler had been erected, or if songs had been sung about him, if he had been glorified in churches - instead of his ally Đurišić, whom it decorated for special fascist merits.

"Would the prosecution then still protect freedom of expression, would it then point out that it can't do anything because Hitler was not finally convicted by a domestic or international court... Well, it wouldn't, because it is a notorious fact that Hitler was a criminal, as was his henchman Đurišić," she said.

Gorjanc Prelević points out that it is clear that the glorification of the commander of the "Chetnik ethnic cleansing of all people who were not Serbs or fascists" is causing hatred.

"If you celebrate Đurišić, you are certainly showing disrespect on the level of hatred towards the ethnic communities that were his victims, towards Muslims and Bosniaks, Roma and all anti-fascists. Of course, celebrating Hitler means hatred towards Jews, and why the prosecution chooses not to see that - remains to be interpreted. We will certainly draw the attention of the European Commission to analyze such their position in the context of Montenegro's obligations in Chapter 23," she announced.

In June, the Higher Prosecutor's Office dismissed the complaint filed by several representatives of non-governmental organizations against Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral, priest Ognjen Femić and unidentified persons for the criminal offense of inciting racial, national and religious hatred, or for glorifying Đurišić.

The Center for Civic Education filed a complaint with the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office against the decision of the Higher Prosecutor's Office. In her response to the complaint, which Vijesti had access to, State Prosecutor Lidija Vukčević stated that after analyzing all the collected data and evidence, it was assessed that the actions taken in the aforementioned case were in accordance with the law and that "a lawful decision was made in the form of a reasoned decision to dismiss the criminal complaint, with sufficiently clear reasons."

Minister of Culture announces removal of monument to Jusuf Čelić

Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović announced yesterday that, regarding the monument to Jusuf Čelić (Isuf Kamer Čelaj) in Gusinje, she will order cultural heritage inspectors to go to the field, establish the facts and order the executive authorities to remove it.

Yesterday, she visited the village of Vusanje, in Gusinje, and toured the location where the monument to Čelić still stands. She recalled that the monument was erected in 2013 "completely illegally, without any approval from the Ministry."

"Such an act is unacceptable both in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of historical truth. Isuf Kamer Čelaj was a collaborator of the occupiers. And Montenegro must not allow a single monument to appear on its territory that glorifies people who stood by the forces that brought suffering, persecution and blood to our people," the Ministry said in a statement.

Čelić was the commander of a company of vulnetari (volunteers), a militia made up of Albanians living in the area of Plav, Gusinje and Albania, which, according to historians, was responsible for crimes against the Orthodox population. This paramilitary force was formed by fascist Italy.

The Minister also visited Petnjica yesterday, in response to media allegations that the street of Osman Rastoder, also an occupier collaborator, is located in that municipality. She said that the sign with the inscription mentioned in the media was not found at the scene.

The authorities of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia declared Rastoder a war criminal after the end of World War II, and the leader of the so-called Muslim Militia, a kind of paramilitary formation that collaborated with the fascists, was killed in January 1946 under unclear circumstances.