The Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) has called on the prosecutor's office to conduct a thorough review of its policy of initiating proceedings for hate speech and glorification of collaborators of fascists and Nazis and war criminals, which are publicly propagated by persons acting in positions of power.
CDT Program Director Milica Kovačević stated that this is being publicly propagated by politicians, mayors, MPs, representatives of religious communities and other public figures.
"Judicial statistics and the practice we observe every day clearly reveal to us the modality by which prosecutors' offices work: the law applies to hate speech and glorification of criminals only when it is uttered by an anonymous citizen on social networks," said Kovačević.
She assessed that the law is strictly applied in small cases, but not at all in large cases.
According to Kovačević, the system bravely deals with individuals without influence, but consistently protects political and religious powerful people who incite national and religious hatred.
"The example of the Mayor of Nikšić, Marko Kovačević, who publicly stated in Grahovac that citizens who are not his 'brothers' will be treated like 'Turks', best illustrates the inability of institutions to respond to hate speech," the statement says.
Kovačević reminded that this is a politician who has previously been acquitted in proceedings for denying the genocide in Srebrenica.
"Instead of being prosecuted for a criminal offense, the situation was reduced to a misdemeanor, as if it were a case of illegal parking, not a public threat based on ethnic hatred," the statement said.
Kovačević said that even more striking is the case of church dignitaries who call Pavle Đurišić, Hitler's decorated ally and commander of Chetnik units that committed mass crimes against civilians, a "hero of invincible character."
"If someone had dared to publicly erect a monument to Adolf Hitler in Montenegro, the judiciary would, without a doubt, have reacted swiftly. But glorifying his ally, additionally responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Muslim villages, remains 'freedom of expression' for our prosecutors," the statement said.
Kovačević said that when the monument to Đurišić was actually erected, the prosecution found it appropriate to prosecute not for inciting hatred, but for the unauthorized installation of a memorial, and exclusively against the owner of the plot on which the monument was erected.
"The prosecution, by releasing public figures from responsibility, is creating a dangerous precedent - that hate speech is an acceptable practice if it comes from positions of power," Kovačević stated.
She said that the consequences are visible, that instead of being suppressed, hatred is being normalized and that violence is becoming a real danger - which was best demonstrated by the attack on journalists during the erection of the monument to Đurišić.
"If the prosecution is right to prosecute criminal structures that are trying to further fuel hatred and tensions with their secret and subversive activities, the big question remains why it does not treat powerful people who do so publicly in the same way, without any restraint," the statement says.
Such a practice, according to Kovačević, is not just an internal issue for Montenegro.
She said that this is a message to the international community that Montenegro is not ready to implement basic human rights standards and that the judiciary prefers to protect those who carry hatred rather than citizens.
Kovačević stated that, at a time when Montenegro claims to be a leader in European integration, this behavior of institutions is also undermining the country's international credibility.
"We remind you that the European Court of Human Rights clearly states: glorifying Hitler, denying or relativizing crimes is not freedom of speech, but hate speech," the statement says.
It is stated that the same standard must apply to its Balkan allies.
According to Kovačević, ignoring this means that Montenegro is not defending its legal obligations, nor its own anti-fascist identity.
"Therefore, it is high time that the prosecutor's office finally musters up the courage, stops hiding behind formal excuses, and starts doing the job it exists for - to defend the rule of law and the rights of citizens," said Kovačević.
She pointed out that there is no just system that protects the powerful while punishing anonymous commentators.
"The result of such practices is not a rule of law, but a dangerous selectivity that will cost this society its life," concluded Kovačević.
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