Yesterday, Montenegro’s Parliament rejected the motion to dismiss Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić, who publicly sent a telegram of condolences following the death of Ratko Mladić, whose conviction for genocide was final. In doing so, Montenegro has regrettably shown that it lacks a political majority willing to unreservedly condemn Mladić’s mass atrocities and those who shamelessly glorify him.

By rejecting the motion, Montenegro’s ruling majority also showed disrespect for the victims of these crimes and irresponsibly encouraged the glorification of war criminals. A country aspiring to European Union membership should never have allowed the head of its Parliament to honour a person finally convicted of genocide without facing any consequences.

We particularly condemn the conduct of the ruling Europe Now Movement, whose MPs avoided the debate instead of defending the European values they profess. When deciding on one’s position towards genocide, silence is a political choice that downplays the crime. A movement bearing Europe’s name should have been the first to defend the truth about Srebrenica and the dignity of its victims. Instead, it has yet to condemn Mandić’s actions in any way.

We call on MPs from minority parties – the Bosniak Party, the Albanian Forum and the Albanian Alliance – to remain consistent in their commitment to respecting international court judgments and withdraw their support for a government that tolerates the glorification of Ratko Mladić. One cannot condemn genocide while supporting a government that tolerates the glorification of its perpetrators.

We are also dismayed by the absence from her parliamentary duties of MP Jevrosima Pejović, who had announced that she would vote to dismiss the Parliament Speaker because, as she said, “common sense tells me to do so”.

We also condemn in the strongest terms the conduct of MP Milan Knežević (DNP), who, during the live broadcast of the parliamentary debate, once again glorified war criminal Ratko Mladić and displayed photographs of severed human heads in an attempt to justify his crimes.

Victims must never be used as anyone’s props. Displaying the mutilated bodies of people who were killed, without warning and at a time when children may also be watching the parliamentary broadcast, is callous and deeply offensive to the dignity of victims and their families. Such conduct is unacceptable and contrary to basic standards of public discourse and ethics.

Pitting victims against one another does not serve the common interest in peace in Montenegro and the region. It fuels hatred and division and downplays crimes. Montenegro owes all victims of the wars of the 1990s, regardless of their ethnicity, truth, justice and respect, rather than exploitation for political purposes.

We also emphasise that the Hague Tribunal, whose authority MP Knežević rejects, established and punished crimes against Serbs that Knežević referred to during the debate (Prosecutor v. Rasim Delić). It is hypocritical to invoke the suffering of Serbian victims and the dissenting opinion of the presiding judge of that same court’s Appeals Chamber while rejecting the authority of the court that established those crimes. That same court, as well as the International Court of Justice, also established that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica. Ratko Mladić, whom Knežević admires, was sentenced to life imprisonment for that genocide in a final judgment.

Finally, by stating in his parliamentary address that he acknowledges the crime in Srebrenica but not the genocide, MP Knežević confirmed that his public praise of Mladić amounts to support for the crime.

We expect the State Prosecutor’s Office to urgently examine MP Knežević’s criminal liability for once again glorifying a war criminal. He reiterated that he does not recognise the Hague Tribunal’s judgments and that he considers Mladić a hero. Montenegro’s Criminal Code prohibits genocide denial and the approval of crimes established by final judgments of international and domestic courts.

Human Rights Action (HRA)
Antifascists of Cetinje
Association Spektra
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG)
Women’s Rights Centre (WRC)
Centre for Women’s and Peace Education – ANIMA
Montenegrin Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (CKM)
Montenegrin PEN Centre
Montenegrin Philological Society
Husein Paša – Pljevlja
Juventas
Prima
“Štrpci – Against Oblivion” Association
Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist
Jovana Marović, civic activist
Almedina Dodić, civic activist
Emir Pilav, civic activist
Paula Petričević, civic activist