Non-governmental organisations and civic activists strongly condemn the erection of a monument to Pavle Đurišić in Gornje Zaostro near Berane – a war criminal, Chetnik commander, Nazi collaborator, and ally of the Ustaše, who was decorated by Adolf Hitler himself.
This act is not merely historical revisionism – it is the open glorification of evil. This shameful attempt to portray killing, slaughter, rape, and ethnic cleansing as justified actions, and to elevate a war criminal into a hero, cannot erase the facts we all know. A monument to a criminal is a monument to hatred towards others.
Pavle Đurišić is remembered for monstrous crimes against the Muslim civilian population of Northern Montenegro, including the murder of at least 8,000 women, children, and the elderly, as well as systematic rape, torture, and the burning of villages. Erecting a monument to such a man is not an act of remembrance, but an open celebration of fascist ideology and the brutal crimes committed in the name of ethnic and religious hatred. It represents the deepest possible moral degradation of Montenegro.
This act not only offends the victims and their families but directly undermines the civic and anti-fascist foundations of modern Montenegro, which are rooted in the legacy of 13 July and the fight against fascism. To celebrate a man responsible for mass atrocities is to celebrate hatred, normalise crimes, and erase the values on which Montenegrin society is built – honour, courage, and the struggle for freedom.
We call on the Ministry of Culture and Media to urgently take steps to remove this illegally erected monument and to publicly and unequivocally condemn this act. We also urge the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office to stop ignoring such cases of glorifying hatred.
The position of the Supreme State Prosecutor – that the previous public glorification of Pavle Đurišić as a hero does not constitute hate speech – has only encouraged the erection of this monument.
We also remind that on 20 May 2025, seven civil society organisations formally warned Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković about the increasingly frequent public glorification of Pavle Đurišić and the Chetnik movement. At the time, we clearly stated that such actions deepen societal divisions, incite hate speech, undermine Montenegro’s anti-fascist foundations, and rehabilitate an ideology responsible for mass crimes. We pointed out that the public glorification of the Chetnik movement in Montenegro, particularly of Pavle Đurišić, who led ethnic cleansing campaigns through mass killings of civilians in Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja, Foča, and Čajniče, constitutes hate speech under Articles 9a and 34a of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, and that his glorification inevitably incites hatred against the Bosniak population and citizens of Islamic faith. Such behaviour, under Article 370, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, constitutes a criminal offense punishable by six months to five years of imprisonment.
Unfortunately, there has been no institutional response. The climate of impunity and institutional inaction, which we have witnessed for years, directly enabled the erection of a monument in 21st-century Montenegro to a man who symbolises collaboration with Nazis and Ustaše. Full responsibility lies with the current authorities in Berane, the parliamentary majority, and the Government of Montenegro, who through their silence, relativisation, and political calculation, have opened space for the revival of ideologies that threaten the very fabric of a civic, democratic, and European Montenegro.
Daliborka Uljarević, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Human Rights Action (HRA)
Ervina Dabižinović, Centre for Women’s and Peace Education ANIMA
Miloš Vukanović, Association of History Teachers of Montenegro HIPMONT
Filip Kuzman, Antifascists of Cetinje
Demir Ličina, Štrpci Association – Against Oblivion
Velija Murić, Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights Protection
Maja Raičević, Women’s Rights Center (WRC)
Milica Kovačević, Center for Democratic Transition (CDT)
Nevenka Vuksanović, Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Jovana Marović, civic activist
Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist
Dušan Pajović, civic activist