If the Criminal Code of Montenegro is amended, a new criminal offense of serious hate speech could be punishable by a prison sentence of three months to three years, announced Minister of Justice Bojan Božović at a roundtable of the Women's Club of the Parliament of Montenegro, whose topic was "Amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro as a response to attacks, threats and hate speech against women performing tasks of public interest: challenges, solutions and application in practice".
Božović said that the Ministry of Justice has already submitted a draft amendment to the Criminal Code that envisages the introduction of this criminal offense, stating that the existing regulations do not produce results and have no deterrent effect. According to him, many perpetrators are not afraid of financial sanctions, and often get away without punishment.
"On a daily basis, female MPs and public employees experience hate speech. It is so common today that it is no longer even news - you read the worst insults to heroes over keyboards and that is normal in Montenegro," said Božović.
He added that, if a criminal offence is introduced, its application in practice will be monitored, and that, if it has a deterrent effect, the possibility of treating it as a misdemeanor again will be considered. He also stressed that freedom of expression is not an absolute right, stating that Montenegro has "gone to the other extreme - the extreme of abuse" in this regard.
Co-president of the Women's Club Zoja Bojanić Lalović said that it is necessary to qualify criminal acts committed against women who perform public interest work, such as journalists, politicians and civil society activists. She stated that women are most exposed to violence in public spaces because they have their own views and do not agree to remain silent.
"Today, this is a test of the seriousness of the state, because we must not allow violence to become normalized. Otherwise, we are sending a message that women are a legitimate target," said Bojanić Lalović.
Women's Club member Bojana Pićan said that society is particularly prone to condemnation when it comes to women, emphasizing the difference between legitimate criticism and language that humiliates and discourages women from participating in public life. She believes that the planned amendments to the Criminal Code represent a major step forward, and suggested the application of the French model, according to which, in addition to a prison sentence, a fine would be provided for, which would be directed to a fund to encourage women to participate in the public arena.
The President of the Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro, Mila Radulović, said that they entered this topic with the aim of helping their colleagues, recalling the data from the analysis they conducted. According to the prosecutor's office, out of 26 cases filed by September this year, 14 relate to female journalists, while the misdemeanor courts have 11 proceedings, eight of which concern female journalists.
"The fines are symbolic and not at all a deterrent. The person who threatened the Vijesti correspondent from Tivat was fined 250 euros for a misdemeanor," Radulović said, adding that a large number of cases remain unreported and that the police often have trouble obtaining information about people who threaten politicians and journalists on the internet.
Bojanić Lalović emphasized in the discussion that attacks on women are never motivated by arguments, but are exclusively personal, and that attacks in the online space are particularly worrying. She stated that the procedures often discourage victims, as they are faced with comments such as "who made you get involved in politics?"
The President of the Gender Equality Committee, Jelenka Andrić, said that there is no need for women to justify their political or journalistic engagement, recalling the case of journalist Jelena Jovanović, who, she said, experienced a large number of threats, including death and rape threats. She expressed hope that the criminal offense of femicide would be introduced into the legislation.
Deputy Ombudsman Nerma Dobardžić said that hate speech is most often prosecuted through misdemeanor liability in practice, emphasizing that freedom of expression is not an absolute right. She pointed out that sexist speech does not only offend individual women, but sends a discouraging message to all women, and reminded of particularly vulnerable groups, including women from rural areas, minorities and women with disabilities.
Executive Director of the Women's Rights Center Maja Raičević said that hate speech does not appear in a vacuum, but rather arises from a political environment that has normalized such behavior, recalling the attacks on civic activist Tea Gorjanc Prelević by Zdenka Popović.
State Prosecutor at the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office Armin Selmanović said that the decriminalization of defamation and insult showed that Montenegrin society was not ready for such a step. He stated that he was against changing the existing criminal offense of inciting national, racial and religious hatred, which, as he said, resulted in the proposal of a new criminal offense.
Speaking about the implementation of the law, Selmanović pointed out that the qualification of hate speech will depend on the legal solution, and warned of problems in collecting evidence from the internet, including the lack of international legal assistance for misdemeanors, which is why, as he emphasized, it is important that serious hate speech is treated as a criminal offense.
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