Non-governmental organizations and civic activists express protest over the President’s alignment with a wave of revisionism and falsification of the recent past through the decoration of Amfilohije Radović.

President of the state Jakov Milatović announced that he would posthumously award the “highest state order” to the religious leader of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije Radović. It remains unclear which specific order this refers to, given that the formal requirements for awarding the “highest order,” as defined by the Law on State Decorations and Awards – that the recepient must be a head of another state or an international organization – have not been met. Until now, the President has insisted on a legalistic approach, so his decision to grossly violate the law for populist rapprochement with the right-wing electorate is surprising.

The justification he provided for the decoration is, at the best, incomplete.  Amfilohije did not contribute to destabilizing Montenegro during the referendum period, but only after he actively supported Serbia in waging five wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and was one of the loudest supporters of the ideology of “blood and soil,” according to which Serbia had the right to expand into all neighboring territories where Serbs live.

Amfilohije welcomed, defended, glorified, and sheltered war criminals from the wars of the 1990s, including Željko Ražnatović Arkan and Radovan Karadžić. He supported the siege of Dubrovnik, visited the Dubrovnik war zone in 1991, and by playing the gusle, “encouraged” military units that ravaged southern Croatia, looted, and attacked unarmed civilians.

After the lost wars, he continued to celebrate the leaders of the Chetnik movement, promoting the defeated “centuries-old vow of uniting all Serbian lands.” He denied and justified the genocide in Srebrenica. Muslims, who make up 20% of Montenegro’s population, he called “false people, false faith,” whom it made sense to kill.

In 2015, he awarded a decoration to Vojislav Šešelj, a convicted war criminal found guilty of crimes against humanity, for inciting war crimes in Vukovar in 1991 and for the persecution of Croats from the Vojvodina village of Hrtkovci, whose volunteer units were aggressors in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He stood out with xenophobic, homophobic, and misogynistic views, against which we spoke out even during his lifetime. He was also reprimanded by the court for hate speech.

Although it is unclear which exact order the President awarded to the Metropolitan, the paradox is that the Order of Montenegro, the Order of the Montenegrin Grand Star, the Order of Montenegrin Independence, or the Order of the Montenegrin Flag would be awarded to someone who denied the existence of Montenegrins and expressed it in extremist language, saying that Montenegrins are “a communist spawn or bastards.” As early as 1989, in the Belgrade Literary News, he stated: “There has never been a Montenegrin people in history,” and in 1992 in the Belgrade magazine World he claimed: “The Montenegrin nation was invented in Tito’s and Đilas’ laboratory.” He did not change his opinion even two decades later when, during his service in the Cetinje Monastery in 2017, he said: “There are many Montenegrins who think they are Montenegrins just because they were born in Montenegro. What kind of Montenegrins are those (…)  They think they are Montenegrins just because, like oxen, they were born in Montenegro. They are not Montenegrins.”

For all these reasons, we believe that such an action by the President contributes to an unacceptable normalization of extreme nationalism and deepens divisions instead of strengthening unity in Montenegro. The propaganda that seeks to construct a cult of personality around Amfilohije has gained such momentum that even opposition parties lack the courage to remind the public of the full truth about the actions of a prominent cleric, who deeply polarized Montenegro. In this context, we also express protest against the intention to erect a 2.5-meter-high monument to him in Kolašin, following the ongoing construction of a 4-meter monument in Berane.

In glorifying Amfilohije and the ideology he symbolizes, apart from municipalities and the President, the Government of Montenegro also participates, having promptly given consent for a monument to be erected in Berane. It is important to emphasize that previously, the Ministry of Culture and Media lawfully rejected the request, referring to Article 10 (prohibition of erecting monuments to persons who had a negative role in history, collaborated with occupiers, or advocated chauvinistic ideas) and Article 20 of the Law on Monuments (that a monument generally cannot be erected before 20 years after the death of a person, so that history can give an objective judgment of their merits).

Simultaneous erection of monuments and awarding of a state order to the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church is an indicator of the erosion of Montenegro’s secular character and the undermining of equality among its citizens. We do not deny Amfilohije’s role in the history of the past thirty years, nor that he contributed to spreading the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church. However, we find this role controversial, as it was not guided by humanistic values but rather by the unequivocal interests of a defeated nationalist agenda.

Unilateral actions aimed at idolizing this controversial figure are not in the public interest and do not contribute to social cohesion or a sense of equality among all citizens. Montenegro has a tradition of dogmatic and uncritical support of leaders, both secular and spiritual, but it is high time for such practices to be replaced with a culture of respect for the law and human rights of all its inhabitants.

Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist

Danijel Kalezić, civic activist

Dušan Pajović, civic activist

Jovana Marović, civic activist

Milena Bešić, civic activist

Paula Petričević, civic activist

Nikoleta Đukanović, civic activist

Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Action for Human Rights (HRA)

Filip Kuzman, Antifašisti Cetinja

Jovan Ulićević, Association Spektra

Daliborka Uljarević, Center for Civic Education (CCE)

Nevenka Vuksanović, Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)

Milan Marković, Montenegrin Philological Society

Velija Murić, Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for the Protection of Human Rights

Zorana Marković, Centre for Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO)

Zlatko Vujović, Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)

Adnan Čirgić, Montenegrin PEN Center

Maja Raičević, Women’s Rights Center

Ervina Dabižinović, Center for Women and Peace Education ANIMA

Almedina Dodić, Eduko Plus

Emir Pilav, NGO Husein Paša

Milena Popović Samardžić, NGO Ipso facto

Ivana Vujović, NGO Juventas

Staša Baštrica, KVIR Montenegro

Zenepa Lika, MSJA

Slavica Striković, Women’s Action

Miloš Vukanović, Association of History Teachers of Montenegro – HIPMONT

Demir Ličina, NGO Association “Štrpci against oblivion”