One year after the violent disruption of the screening of the film Roda at the Džada Film Festival in Podgorica, the perpetrators have still not been identified. The screening was interrupted on 3 September 2025 after a group of hooligans in the audience protested with shouts and insults because the film was in Albanian, prompting the organisers, as a precautionary measure, to cancel the screening altogether.

The screening of Roda, directed by Isa Ćosja, was eventually held indoors, although the very essence of the festival, as its name suggests, is to screen films in the street, under the open sky. This demonstrated the failure of the state to protect freedom of artistic and cultural expression, as well as the safety of the audience, from open nationalism in the public sphere. We also recall that, under the Constitution, Albanian is one of the languages in official use in Montenegro, and that members of the Albanian community account for at least 5% of Montenegro’s population.

Non-governmental organisations and civic activists immediately called on the police and the prosecution service to identify and prosecute those responsible in September last year. In May this year, eight months later, the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica informed us that the preliminary investigation was still ongoing and that all measures and actions prescribed by law were being undertaken to identify the perpetrators. However, the public still does not know who was behind the incident, even though all statutory deadlines for action during the preliminary investigation have long expired.

We once again call on the Police Directorate and the State Prosecutor’s Office to disclose the outcome of the preliminary investigation without further delay.

We warn that nationalist extremism must neither be tolerated nor normalised. The silence of the institutions responsible for combating hate speech sends a dangerous message that violence and intimidation on the grounds of someone’s national identity or language are permissible, and that an artistic event may be disrupted in this way.

An effective response by state institutions to extremist incidents is essential to preserving Montenegro as a civic and multi-ethnic state governed by the rule of law, in which everyone must be free to create and enjoy art – in all languages.

Human Rights Action (HRA)
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Association SPEKTRA
Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG)
Women’s Rights Centre (WRC)
Ipso Facto
Dina Bajramspahić
Jovana Marović
Paula Petričević