Preventing or obstructing the meeting organized by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Regional Museum in Danilovgrad by the priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church is, primarily, a violent and illegal behavior, improper for enlightened priests, as well as the violation of the right to freedom of thought and religion.

Prevention of public gathering is a criminal act, as well as the Violation of free speech and public appearance, Violation of freedom of religion and performance of religious rites and Inciting religious hatred, all of which are prosecuted ex officio, so there is no reason for the state prosecutor not to initiate a criminal prosecution in this case.

According to the Constitution of Montenegro, religious groups are equal and free to perform religious rites and other affairs.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a registered religious community in Montenegro and its members have the right to profess their faith and even to convince others to change their religion – that is exactly the essence of the human right to freedom of opinion and religion, which includes the right to change the opinion and belief. In the 1993 case Kokkinakis v. Greece, the European Court of Human Rights found that Greece violated the right to freedom of religion of the Jehovah’s Witnesses member who has been convicted of proselytism (converting supporters of one faith to another faith by inappropriate means), and failed to prove that he actually used dishonest and illegal means, such as coercion, exploitation of deprivation, ”brainwashing”, etc.

In Montenegro everyone has the right to believe or not to believe in whatever, and even to try to persuade others to believe the same, as long as it does not include force, hate speech or incitement to violence. There is no information that the Jehovah’s Witnesses used on the occasion such illegal methods, or that they otherwise use such methods. And if the Serbian Orthodox Church has such information, it should report it to the competent authorities, and refrain from violent dispute with opponents.