HRA: We condemn the chanting of Sutjeska fans, nationalist hate speech must be publicly condemned and punished

Action for Human Rights (HRA) announced that it "condemns last night's chanting of the song "Knife, wire, Podgorica" ​​by a group of Sutjeska fans, when they arrived at the final match of the Montenegrin Cup with Arsenal in Podgorica".

Last night, fans of the Sutjeska "Vojvode" football club shouted "Knife, wire, Podgorica" ​​near the stadium under Gorica.

"This nationalist hate speech must be publicly condemned by all levels of government, both local and state, prosecuted and punished in order to prevent further incitement of hatred and new violence. The fan's allusion to the genocide in Srebrenica, the most massive crime on European soil after the Second World War, in which more than eight thousand Bosniaks (including six hundred children) were systematically killed, in the context of the acceptable treatment of anyone, speaks of a serious moral failure and the absence of awareness of acceptable behavior in a multi-ethnic society," the HRA press release points out.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) added that they expect the "Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to assess the singing of the mentioned song as hate speech and prosecute those responsible for that and any similar speech that causes hatred and deepens divisions, contrary to the Constitution of Montenegro and the Criminal Code of Montenegro. Up".

"We remind you that in January 2019, in the case of Šimunić v. Croatia, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed the correctness of the decision of the Croatian court, which fined a football player 3.300 euros for shouting "Za dom" at an international football match, to which the fans answered "Ready" - which is a rallying cry used by the fascist Ustasha movement during World War 29. The European Court pointed out that the Ustasha movement symbolized hatred towards people of a different religious or ethnic identity and manifested a racist ideology and that the applicant made statements which expressed or incited hatred. More details about the verdict can be found in the HRA Handbook for Suppressing Hate Speech (p. XNUMX)," the HRA press release reads.

The higher state prosecutor's office in Podgorica opened a case due to the chanting of a group of fans of the Football Club (FK) Sutjeska - "Knife, wire, Podgorica".