We earnestly followed your discussion at the plenary session of the European Parliament on the outcomes of the Conference at Brdo near Kranj, when you pointed out the need for Montenegrin politicians to demonstrate clear pro-European action instead of uttering mere proclamatory catchphrases pseudo-advocating for Europe.
We, as concerned citizens, intellectuals, artists, journalists, are looking forward to your arrival in Montenegro, convinced that you will re-emphasise your messages and inform the government, the current parliamentary majority and the president of the parliament that pro-European action primarily implies freedom of media and expression.
In light of the above, we wish to inform you of only a few examples of intimidation of independent media and suppression of freedom of media in Montenegro:
- Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović’s statement that the critical and independent media portal CDM should cease to exist, along with an invitation to advertisers not to advertise on this portal and to citizens to remove the CDM application;
- Purges and employment based on the political party affiliation at local broadcaster RTV Nikšić;
- Threats made by Deputy Prime Minister Abazović at the parliamentary security committee, after the violent enthronement of the SOC bishop in Cetinje, to the editor-in-chief of Pobjeda, Draško Đuranović, foregrounding the question of whether “Đuranović should have been arrested like the former FOS Media journalist”;
- Threats made by Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic that, unless it is placed under the full party control of the new parliamentary majority, the public broadcasting service RTCG will experience a “Greek scenario”;
- The election of the RTCG Council in the parliament of Montenegro (mentioned in the European Commission report), the illegal election of the RTCG Director-General Boris Raonic (despite warnings from the RTCG legal service), purges and party employment at RTCG (dozens of people have been dismissed, some because they supported colleague Tanja Šuković; doyen of Montenegrin journalism, Branko Vojičić, was fired after he refused the job offered to him as a novice reporter); revanchism, degradation (in cases where this is not possible, demotion of job titles/responsibilities), an attack on RTCG journalist Tanja Šuković by the RTCG management, problematic changes to the code of ethics that leave room for the director-general to interpret them arbitrarily, and continuous encouragement of an atmosphere of tension and fear;
- Death threats to renown journalist, author and host of the highly popular RTCG show Dvogled, Duška Pejović;
- Publication of an illegally recorded conversation between public broadcasting service journalist Tamara Nikčević and her guest, which preceded the show, by parliament President Aleksa Bečić (neither the journalist nor the guest knew they were being recorded; publishing of such a recording is prohibited under Montenegrin law);
- Explicit threats and insults of the cabinet of the parliament president against Tamara Nikčević and other outspoken journalists, but also the lawsuit of Democratic Montenegro against Nikčević, which is a precedent in Montenegrin politics, directly intimidating the journalistic profession, in general;
- The labelling of independent journalists as “mafia mercenaries” and independent media as “slaves to the former regime” by representatives of the government and the parliamentary majority;
- Death threats to top journalists Darko Šuković and renowned regional columnist Dragan Bursać, for which the defendant received a suspended prison sentence of four months;
- Brutal and open threats to the journalist of Gradska Televizija, Mirka Dević, sent from the highest state and political party positions, as well as from the bot-meme network under the control of the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church;
- Fake news from RTCG that during the protest in Cetinje against the violent enthronement of the Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the police were shot at, which contributed to the unprecedented and excessive use of force by the police against demonstrators;
- Radical changes in the media scene since August last year; change in the ownership structure of many media outlets and their transformation into pro-Russian and pro-Serbian propaganda outlets;
- Financial pressure on independent media, which resulted in their endangerment and, most recently and blatantly, almost leading to the shutdown of the Luča portal.
We are convinced that the key to solving the European problem lies in categorically expressing zero tolerance for constant pressure on journalists and threats to journalists and stopping the shutdown of independent media.
The brutal media engineering that is happening in Montenegro before the eyes of the European Union and the United States has resulted in the rapid strengthening of anti-democratic, and anti-Western policies, on the one hand, and radical pro-Russian and pro-Serbian ones, on the other, thus minimising the space for any progressive and pro-Western policies.
Finally, we hope that you may heed the voice of concerned Montenegrin citizens, as you did the European voice of the citizens, referred to in the speech at the beginning of this letter.
Thankful in advance. We look forward to meeting you soon.
Sincerely,
A group of concerned citizens of Montenegro:
Rajko Cerović, publicist
Lidija Vukčević, writer
Marko Špadijer, publicist
Živko Andrijašević, historian, university professor
Maja Bogojević, film theorist
Nada Bukilić, drama writer
Andrej Nikolaidis, publicist and writer
Jasna Tatar Anđelić, university professor
Dragan B.Perović, publicist
Draško Đuranović, journalist
Branko Vojičić, journalist
Milorad Pustahija, columnist and publicist
Kaćuša Krsmanović, journalist
Marija Jovićević, journalist
Jadranka Rabrenović, journalist
Adem Ado Softić, writer
Mirka Dević, journalist
Aleksandar Sekulović, journalist
MA Novak Adzic, historian, lawyer, university professor
Milorad Bajković, architect
Rosanda Mučalica, journalist
Sreten Vujović, vice president of the Montenegrin PEN Centre, academy member DANU
Tinka Đuranović, manager in journalism
Tanja Šuković, journalist
Darko Šuković, journalist
Predrag Peđa Vušurović, civic activist
Seka Metđonaj, writer
Dragan Bursać, professor of philosophy, publicist, journalist
Aleksandra Bosnić Đurić, culturologist
Duško Mihajlović, journalist
Dragana Erjavšek, journalist
Nenad Zečević, journalist
Manja Simonović, student at the University of Montenegro
Šeki Radončić, journalist and publicist
Zoran Darmanović, journalist
Vanja Šćekić, journalist
Snežana Rakonjac, journalist
Milica Babić, journalist
Žarko Đuranović, engineer
Tamara Nikčević, journalist and editor
Arnela Bučan, political scientist
Slavica Kruščić Vasović, journalist
Radmila Uskoković-Ivanović, journalist
Dražen Drašković, journalist
Nataša Đukanović, pharmacist
Božana Stanković Babačić, civic activist
Aleksandra Mitrović, civic activist
Hajdana Huter, librarian, civic activist
Jason Gold, photographer, writer
Komsa Prijić, designer
Svetlana M. Pajovic, civic activist
Tanja Pavićević, journalist
Branislav Pešić, analyst
Aida Petrovic, peace activist and women’s rights activist
Anica Obradović, sociologist
Aleksandra Radoman-Kovačević, education expert
MA Sava Kovačević, teacher, education expert
Aleksandar Radoman, philologist, university professor
Jelena Šušanj, PhD candidate, university professor
Ljiljana Zeković, art historian
Nikola Popović, philologist, university professor
Boban Batrićević, historian, university professor
Ivana Rondović, PR manager
Dejan Batrićević, graphic designer
Ivana Vujović, civic activist
Danilo Radulović, civic activist
Sofija Kalezić, philologist, university professor
Sanja Orlandić, philologist, university professor
Adnan Čirgić, philologist, university professor
Milan Marković, PhD Candidate, philologist, university professor
Milutin Mijović, librarian
Branislav Marović, historian
Đorđe Šćepović, writer and publicist
Ivana Radoman, English language and literature professor
Balša Knežević, journalist
Adriana Žolja Bošković, journalist
Jelena Šćepanović, journalist
Senka Radoman, civic activst
Vlado Radoman, civic activist
Miloš Radonjić, political scientist
Stanka Radonjić, meteorological technician
Milovan Radonjić, poet
Predrag V. Malešević, lawyer
Maja Miličković, Italian language and literature professor
Gorana Pavićević Ćetković, economist
Maja Jovanović, economist
Slobodanka Perović, economist
Maja Brnović, economist
Vukota Vukotić, historian
Rajko Perović, tourism worker
Rajko Radulović, drama writer
Ana Pajović, MA in literature
PhD Dragan Bogojević, university professor
Ana Vujosevic, actress, Montenegro National Theatre
Ivana Mrvaljević, artist, actress
Petra Ivanović, MA in music pedagogy and international relations
Ivan Ivanović, professor
Radan Raičević, civic activist
Slobodan Jovanović, publicist
Suzana Pajović, artist and professor
Nina Redžepagić, communications expert
Malik Kovačević, law student at the University of Montenegro
Danijela Brajović, artist
Zdravko Šoć, lawyer
Esad Šainović, economist
Jelena Marković, Faculty for Montenegrin Language and Literature
Panto Pavićević, civilian
Aleksandra Popović, journalist
Snežana Burzan Vuksanović, manager in culture, journalist
Bojana Dabović, journalist
Danijela Bokan, education expert and professor of Italian
Predrag Marković, Montenegrin American Association CETINJE
Mihailo Mandić, Montenegrin Ethnic Association of Australia
Dejan Ivanović, Montenegrin – German Association MonteKöln
Emira M Ličina – President eMDe Alijanse – Coalition of Montenegrin Associations in Germany
Gojko Krivokapić, civilian, Sidney
Stanka Ercegovac, Melbourne
Vesna Špadijer, Sidney
Vasilije Špadijer, Sidney
Nebojša Niković, New Zealand
Josip Lukić, Melbourne
Marko Lukić, Melbourne
Jelena Špadijer, Liverpool
Milena Špadijer, Casulla
Ivo Đukanovic, San Francisko
Mirza Redzić, Sarajevo
Danijela Đurđević, Italija
Sreten Đuretić, civic activist
Srdja Pavlovic, historian. University of Alberta, Canada
Nino Pajović, London
Vladimir Bilčík chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee.
Photograph courtesy of Risto Bozovic/marijanana. Published under a Creative Commons license.
