We, the undersigned non-governmental organisations and human rights activists, call on the Government of Montenegro and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić to clearly, publicly and unequivocally condemn the glorification by public office holders of individuals finally convicted of war crimes, and to withdraw political support from such officials. We believe that no public office holder should enjoy the political support of the Government if they portray a person finally convicted of war crimes as a hero.
Speaker of the Parliament, Andrija Mandić publicly expressed condolences to Ratko Mladić’s son, following the death of a man finally convicted of genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The President of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Dario Vraneš, went a step further, referring to Mladić in an obituary as an “immortal Serbian general”. Particularly concerning is the fact that Prime Minister Spajić and his party, the Europe Now Movement (PES), are providing direct political protection to the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Andrija Mandić, by failing to clearly condemn his glorification of a war criminal under the guise of a “folk custom”. The same applies to Vraneš’s conduct in Pljevlja, which they have not even commented on.
Tolerating such conduct by the second-highest-ranking state official means that preserving the parliamentary majority is being placed above the elementary norms of a civilised society and Montenegro’s EU membership aspirations. In this way, the Government becomes directly complicit in the normalisation of an ideology that glorifies genocide.
Glorifying a war criminal is not a “custom” in a democratic society, as the President of the Parliament has attempted to portray it. The glorification of persons finally convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes is an attack on the values underpinning human rights, the rule of law and a culture of remembrance of the victims of these crimes. When such messages are sent by holders of the highest state and local offices, they acquire institutional weight and convey the message that the state tolerates the glorification of perpetrators of the gravest crimes and the humiliation of their victims.
The glorification of Ratko Mladić is also the glorification of a militaristic and nationalist policy that left behind mass killings, persecution, detention camps, systematic sexual violence and devastated communities. By proclaiming a convicted war criminal a hero, force, domination and violence are normalised as desirable models of political and social behaviour.
Montenegro must clearly distance itself from the policy of the Republic of Serbia towards the legacy of Ratko Mladić, including the decision for his funeral to be accompanied by the highest state and military honours. However, Montenegro cannot address this issue as a neutral observer. Its political leadership and state structures at the time participated in the war policies of the 1990s and bear responsibility for their consequences. Therefore, today’s silence is not merely an absence of diplomatic reaction, but also a continuation of the refusal of Montenegrin society to confront its own past. The Government’s silence regarding the aforementioned funeral, while simultaneously tolerating the glorification of Mladić by officials and political partners participating in the government, does not amount to distancing itself from a policy of relativising genocide. On the contrary, such a permissive stance seriously calls into question the credibility of Montenegro’s declared commitment to European values.
For years, the institutions of the European Union have made it clear that there is no place for the glorification of war criminals, genocide denial or the relativisation of crimes established by final judgments, either in the European Union or in countries seeking to join it. The European Commission reiterated this yesterday. Montenegro is a candidate country – one that seeks to become an EU member in the near future. It therefore no longer has room for political ambiguity. Condemning the glorification of war criminals is neither a concession to the EU nor a technical condition for accession, but a duty owed to the victims and a fundamental prerequisite for building a just and peaceful society. Montenegro must reject the politics of crime for its own sake, and not merely because of EU membership.
We call on the Government of Montenegro to:
- publicly and individually condemn the actions of every public official who has glorified Ratko Mladić and withdraw political support from such officials;
- call on the parliamentary parties in power to withdraw their political support from such officials and initiate mechanisms of political accountability;
- unequivocally state that Montenegro distances itself from the glorification of Ratko Mladić and from his funeral being conducted with state and military honours in the Republic of Serbia;
- clearly affirm that respect for final judgments of international courts and for the dignity of victims forms an integral part of Montenegro’s European policy;
- express the expectation that the State Prosecutor’s Office will, without further delay, act on the criminal complaints filed in relation to the public approval, denial or gross trivialisation of genocide and other war crimes, in accordance with the law;
- ensure that, in the future, state institutions and their representatives do not provide political legitimacy to the glorification of convicted war criminals.
We also demand that the Government use its influence and take all necessary steps to ensure the removal in Kotor of the graffiti on the newly opened boulevard in Grbalj, which reads: “Ratko Mladić – Your youth glorifies you forever, God’s judgment is the only true and just one”, as reported by the media on 6 September. We are appalled that Kotor did not remove this content from public space as soon as it was reported.
The Government’s response to all of this is a test of Montenegro’s democratic capacity, its attitude towards the victims of the wars of the 1990s and the credibility of its European path.
Ratko Mladić is not a hero, but a man finally convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The attitude towards this fact is not a matter of national affiliation, ideology or differing interpretations of history, but an elementary value threshold of a democratic society. Silence in the face of the glorification of a criminal humiliates the victims and sends the political message that a crime can be justified when it is committed by “one of us”.
It is time for the Government of Montenegro to make a clear choice in favour of European values and the dignity of victims, rather than political tolerance of the glorification of war criminals. There can be no compromise on this.
Non-governmental organisations
Human Rights Action (HRA)
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Centre for Women’s and Peace Education ANIMA
Juventas
Association “Štrpci – Against Forgetting”
Women’s Rights Centre (WRC)
Association SPEKTRA
PRIMA
Centre for Development of Non-Governmental Organisations (CRNVO)
Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN CG)
Montenegrin Women’s Lobby
Dr Martin Schneider-Jacoby Association
Association of LBTQ Women “Stana”
Women’s Action
Montenegrin Lawyers Committee for the Protection of Human Rights
Antifascists of Cetinje
Women’s Safe House
Civic Initiative 21 May
First Women’s Environmental Movement in Montenegro – Ecopatriotism
Bihor Cultural Centre
Ikre Rožaje
Centre for Roma Initiatives
Centre for Democratic Transition (CDT)
35mm
Ipso Facto
Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)
Alliance for Children and Youth – KUĆA
Women’s Safe House
Montenegrin PEN Centre
Montenegrin Philological Society
Media Institute of Montenegro
Prazan prostor (Empty Space)
Montenegrin LGBTIQ Association Queer Montenegro
Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Green Home
Korifej teatar
Association for the Protection and Promotion of Citizens’ Rights “Pravozastupnik”
Civic activists:
Jovana Marović
Dina Bajramspahić
Paula Petričević
Milena Bešić
Aleksandar Dragićević
Mladen Ivanović
Darko Saveljić
Vuk Iković
Emir Pilav
Dušan Pajović
Nikoleta Đukanović
Milica Kankaraš Berber
Sabina Talović
Goran Đurović
Almedina Dodić
Danijel Kalezić
Aleksandar Saša Zeković