Centre for Civic Education (CCE) calls on the competent institutions to respond without delay and as a matter of urgency in the case of Mirjana Pajković, and to take all legally prescribed measures to protect the right to privacy and dignity, as well as to prevent further digital violence.
In recent days, this woman has been subjected to shameless public shaming, misogynistic attacks, and targeting through the abuse of her right to privacy, which must not remain without a swift and effective institutional response. When the system fails to act in time, digital lynching continues even after public attention subsides, while the woman remains the one who bears the harm, fear, and stigma. Moreover, this sends an alarming message to a society in which anyone can overnight become an unprotected victim.
CCE stresses that the public sphere must not become a space in which intimacy is used as a tool for attack, blackmail, or “disciplining”. No one has the right to turn another person’s privacy into a public spectacle. Public curiosity, sensationalism, and so-called “moral” standards cannot serve as a justification for humiliation and violence.
We recall that the Montenegrin legal framework recognises criminal liability for the publication or sharing of sexually explicit material without consent, as well as for threats to engage in such conduct, with stricter sanctions when these acts are committed through information and communication technologies or when the content becomes accessible to a larger number of persons. This means that responsibility cannot be limited solely to the initial perpetrator; rather, the entire chain of dissemination and distribution constitutes part of the same problem and must be addressed by institutional action.
CCE calls on the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Directorate to act without delay, impartially, and ex officio, in order to identify the source and the distribution chain of the disputed content, and to ensure the sanctioning of all those involved in its publication and dissemination, in accordance with the Criminal Code, in particular Article 175a.
CCE emphasises that online media outlets and the social media pages of news portals bear special responsibility, as comment moderation is not a technical issue, but an integral part of protecting dignity and safety in the digital space, especially when dealing with content that produces secondary victimisation.
Such cases have dangerous broader consequences. When violence is normalised and institutions respond slowly or inadequately, a message is sent that women who report violence, pressure, or irregularities will be exposed to public humiliation, condemnation, and discrediting without effective protection. This, in turn, narrows the space for the safe participation of women in public life. Therefore, this case represents yet another test of the rule of law: whether institutions protect the right to privacy and dignity and sanction digital violence, or whether they enable the impunity of criminal offences.
Miloš Knežević, Development Coordinator