
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY 2025!
31/12/2024
N3.T1 – UNCONSTITUTIONAL OPERATION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
12/01/2025JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CETINJE TRAGEDY BY HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION AND THE WOMEN’S RIGHTS CENTRE

We share in the grief of the families and friends of the twelve victims who lost their lives in Cetinje, including two children. Our sincerest hope is for the survival and recovery of all four individuals who are critically injured.
We stand in solidarity with the citizens of Cetinje, who have endured two mass killings within the past two and a half years—events that are particularly difficult to explain, especially to children.
The tragic events in Cetinje yesterday necessitate a thorough examination of the accountability and preparedness of Montenegro’s security system.
The murders took place at five separate and distant locations, while at a sixth location, the perpetrator was neutralized and subsequently took his own life. Alarmingly, the city was secured by only nine police officers, despite the Prime Minister’s claim that 120 members of the Special Forces were deployed there, and in light of a similar mass murder that occurred in August 2022.
We urge the authorities to clarify what has changed in Cetinje’s security system since 2022 and why the city has remained inadequately protected.
The primary duties of the police, as defined by the Law on Internal Affairs, include ensuring the safety of citizens and safeguarding the freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution; preventing and investigating criminal offenses and misdemeanors; identifying offenders and bringing them before the appropriate authorities; as well as maintaining public order and peace.
It is the state’s responsibility to organize its security forces in a manner that aligns with professional standards, preventing the recurrence of the same patterns of violence, which our organizations have consistently emphasized.
We would like to remind that on December 28, 2023, during a protest organized by the Women’s Rights Centre and the civic group “Poslednja kap,” we presented demands to Prime Minister Spajić. These included a call for the Government of Montenegro to democratize police operations through a strategic commitment to establishing “community policing.” This approach should be founded on respect for human rights, accountability, and cooperation between the police and the community. Additionally, we urged relevant institutions to conduct thorough checks and report on whether individuals authorized to possess weapons are doing so safely (separately from ammunition) and to ensure that access to weapons and ammunition by minors and other unauthorized individuals is adequately restricted.
We now wish to add the following demands:
- Prevent the legal purchase of firearms without prior authorization for possession.
- Declare a moratorium on the issuance of permits for the possession and use of any weapons until the Weapons Law is amended.
- Conduct thorough reviews of all issued firearms licenses through police checks on individuals who possess weapons, as well as comprehensive psychiatric and medical evaluations, including testing for psychoactive substances.
- Tighten the requirements for possessing hunting weapons.
- Strengthen oversight of shooting clubs that issue membership cards and falsified certificates, facilitating easier access to weapons permits.
- Introduce a substantial monthly tax on the possession and use of firearms.
- Ensure that media service providers, including internet platforms and social networks, adhere to the ban on programming content that promotes hate speech, violence, criminal or illegal activities, and scenes of brutal violence, especially materials that could negatively impact the public and particularly children.
- Implement mandatory education in schools focusing on nonviolent conflict resolution and providing information on violence prevention and protection, including issues related to gender-based and other forms of discrimination.
We wholeheartedly support the campaign “Respect Life, Return Weapons,” and we appeal to all individuals who possess weapons to surrender them.