The meaning of the law prepared by the government is not a question of freedom of religion, but the seizure of church property, according to the rector of the Cetinje seminary, Gojko Perović.
"According to the content of the previous proposal from 2015, it is clear that this is not a law on freedom of religion, but a state regulation for the seizure of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) located in Montenegro," Perović told the MINA agency.
According to him, these are not ugly words or superficial condemnations, but a consideration of what is called "ratio legis", that is, the meaning or goal of passing a law.
"When we look at the content of the proposed law, it is clear to any literate person that its basic meaning is the seizure of property, not the issue of freedom of religion," said Perović.
He evaluated the proposed solution that the church property be returned to the ownership of the state as a return to the revolutionary regulations from the communist era.
"The experts of the Venice Commission had a similar comment. Classic violence and extortion, which has no legal foundation," said Perović.
When asked whether the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral delivered to the proposers of the law their solutions and their opinion on how the issue of church property should be settled, Perović said that none of the proposers of the law had contacted them.
"It is done unilaterally and without consultation with those to whom that law should apply. But the SPC has given a large number of objections related to both the wording and the content of the text of the proposed law," added Perović.
He pointed out that the issue of property is the inalienable right of legal owners, and it cannot be taken away.
Church property, as he said, was never state property.
"Before the courts of the state of Montenegro, it was proven in several processes that the temples that were thought to belong to the state, because they were allegedly the family property of the Petrović dynasty, were actually never anyone's property, except for the church," said Perović.
He emphasized that the state should protect the Church's right to own and use church property in accordance with the law, and not take that property away from it and transfer it to itself.
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