NGO Human Rights Action condemns the stoning of Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) premises in Tivat and warns of the disturbing fact that the outpouring of hatred against Croatian people in Montenegro is becoming frequent.

We remind on hate speech graffiti written on HGI mailbox in March this year and the wall of an elementary school in Tivat last year, in relation to which the perpetrator of the first case was prosecuted for the offense, while in the second case, the perpetrators have not been identified.We also remind on the stoning of buses with sports fans from Croatia last summer in Branelovići – when juvenile perpetrators were sentenced to the measure of increased parental supervision, and the case of stoning buses with fans of sports team Hajduk in Budva this summer – the perpetrators have not yet been identified.

We appeal on competent authorities to identify and punish the perpetrators of this incident and previous outbursts of ethnic hatred as soon as possible. The Constitution of Montenegro, Article 7 specifically prohibits inciting of hatred on any basis. These and similar manifestations of hatred against ethnic and other minority groups are particularly dangerous to a democratic society and deserve to be strictly qualified – not as an ordinary offense, but as a criminal offense of Inciting national, racial or religious hatred, discord or intolerance, or other crimes committed out of hate, and, as such, deserve strict punishment, in accordance with this year’s amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro.