Barac: Abazović to withdraw Marković from the expert team, otherwise we will consider him encouraging homophobia and misogyny

The executive director of LGBT Forum Progress, John M. Barac, on behalf of this NGO, welcomed the decision of Tee Gorjanc Prelevic not to take part in the work of the expert team that should deal with the work on the basic contract, because it includes lawyer Velibor Marković.

He told Prime Minister Dritan Abazović that they expect the proposal to be corrected, "otherwise we will consider that with this act you are encouraging misogyny, chauvinism and homophobia."

"We fully agree with the statement of Mrs. Gorjanc Prelevic that "the common good cannot be built on the denial of rights and the humiliation of any people in a society, including the LGBTIQ community and women." Lawyer Velibor Marković is known to non-governmental organizations and the general public as a lawyer who expresses his misogynistic, chauvinistic and homophobic views publicly and transparently and pollutes the public space with hatred," the announcement states.

He reminded Abazović, who invited Marković to the expert team, that he was a member of the social network Facebook last year, while addressing Vijesti journalist Damira Kalač, and as part of the correspondence about the Law on same-sex life partnerships, he stated the following: "...And since this is already becoming a repetition, only you drink and strum strangers within 4 walls, no one can forbid you, but if I see you gossiping in front of my father or in front of my children and doing it like that violence against us, I will return the seed to you".

He adds that Kalač then, with the legal support of this NGO, submitted a report to the Police Directorate, which caused an additional reaction from Marković.

"The comments were particularly worrying because, in addition to the initial threat of twisting the neck of LGBTI people, lawyer Marković repeats the threat in his next post, and characterizes LGBTI people as sick phenomena that disgust the environment".

The announcement states that this NGO and the LGBTIQ Social Center sent the initiative to the Bar Association of Montenegro to initiate urgent disciplinary proceedings against Marković due to such publicly stated views.

"We believe that with his announcements, lawyer Marković violated the basic principles of human rights guaranteed by ratified international standards and national legislation on the prohibition of discrimination. Dear Prime Minister, due to all of the above, the election of a person who disregards the basic human rights of women and LGBTI persons and calls his fellow judges derogatory names solely because of their gender, is not the European route of Montenegro that will pave the way for us to the European Union and advocate for equal rights of all religious communities, and therefore should not be proposed, let alone chosen to be a part of the team that will work on the Basic Agreement. We expect the proposal to be corrected, otherwise we will consider that with this act you are encouraging misogyny, chauvinism and homophobia, and that you are charting a path that is neither European nor human," reads the statement signed by Barac.