A straight Prime Minister, gay allegations in Parliament, and MPs threatening murder

Three days of the past week formed a mosaic of contemporary Montenegro. And for many, after everything, it is unclear how we - being as we are - are on the right European path, just a step away from joining the European Union.

How are we, as the saying goes, „straight“?!

Then comes Prime Minister’s Hour, and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić appears, who, how should I put it, knows how to highlight Montenegro’s priorities - without restraint. Completely straight: he does not talk about the economy, does not talk about corruption, does not answer questions…

THE RIGHT ORIENTATION

No, he ignored all of that because during Prime Minister’s Hour Spajić was defending himself - from Miloš Medenica. A day earlier, in a video recording, Medenica accused him of gay experiments, but also of consuming cocaine inside the Government building, together with a former minister, whom „Medeni“ suggested bears a strong resemblance to Janko Odović…

Fortunately, Spajić is certain of his proper orientation. Not political, but sexual…

- My sexual orientation is that I am straight. As far as I’m concerned, I want rights for all citizens, both those who are straight like me and those who are different… I am someone who, I repeat, is of straight orientation - the Prime Minister said with a smile from the parliamentary podium.

So: if you hadn’t heard before, now you have; if you didn’t believe before, now you must - Milojko Spajić is not gay, he is straight.

WHO IS AFRAID OF MENTIONING COCAINE?

And what about the consumption of cocaine?

On that, Prime Minister Spajić did not say a word, as if it was most important for him to prove that he is a straight prime minister. As if consuming cocaine were completely harmless, while being labeled as having a gay sexual orientation were an unspeakably serious crime.

To make things even more interesting, none of the ruling partners or opposition rivals asked Spajić why he remained silent about Miloš Medenica’s claim that a recently serving minister provided him with regular doses of cocaine, right inside the Government of Montenegro building.

Or perhaps, for the future of a European Montenegro, the more important question is - is Spajić really straight, or, well, depending on the situation?

Even Member of Parliament Milan Knežević, in the heat of discussion with the Prime Minister, forgot about the cocaine, although he spoke about a minister who walked around in a bathrobe through the corridors of the Government building at Karađorđeva 2.

THREATS OF MURDER

The leader of the Democratic People’s Party returned to Medenica’s story about gays in the Government, apparently, that story truly shocked him. To such an extent that Knežević crossed every line.

- If Miloš Medenica had said about me what he said about you, I would have killed him. Let me tell you right away: I would have killed him like a dog - Knežević shouted.

This is not a line from a theatre play, this is a record from the Montenegrin Parliament. Yet since the introduction of multi-party politics, although no MP has said anything like this, Milan Knežević received neither a reprimand nor a warning.

The Speaker at the time, member of the Europe Now Movement Boris Pejović, remained silent: apparently he received no signal to react, and his personal conscience did not prompt him either. The other Deputy Speaker, Nikola Camaj, was also silent as he prepared to ask a new question to the Prime Minister. It was as if it were taken for granted that Milan Knežević - or any other MP, for that matter - has the right to issue threats, to speak about killing any citizen who, God forbid, offends him…

Kill him like a do - a message from an MP of the Parliament of Montenegro. What a morbid message from the heart of the parliament of a country that is the leading candidate for accession to the European Union.

Unfortunately, that was not the only morbid message last week.

THE FORCE OF POLICE LAWLESSNESS

No, the end of the week was marked by the Director of the Police Directorate Lazar Šćepanović. Not only because he rode in a „Maybach“, but because he seemed to imagine himself as some kind of untouchable figure whom no one is allowed to even look at the wrong way.

Those who photograph him with their phones - and share those photos or videos - will be persecuted as if they were enemies of the state.

And that is exactly what happened to a previously unknown young man, Saša Đilas.

When he set off on May 1 with his girlfriend to Prijepolje to visit relatives, his parents called him with disturbing news: several police officers had entered their home to conduct a thorough search due to alleged „suspicion of possession of weapons and explosive materials“, as the police phrased it.

When the young man reported to the police, he had quite an experience: under flashing lights, seven police officers and two inspectors arrived and interrogated Đilas for a full six hours at the police station in Bijelo Polje.

LIKE IN THE ERA OF DZHUGASHVILI

What the Police Directorate announced sounded disturbing: as if it were news from the era of Stalinism: „In coordination with the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office, the police identified and detained several individuals for recording and sharing video footage of the movement of the escort vehicles of the Police Directorate Director Lazar Šćepanović. Among those detained is an employee of the prosecutor’s office, while searches and forensic examinations of seized digital devices are ongoing to determine all the circumstances of the case“.

Of course, it turned out that the wounded pride of Lazar Šćepanović was the key trigger for this unlawful police action. Because even if Đilas had recorded the footage with a drone - which he did not, but rather at a gas station in Nikšić - and even if a prosecutor’s office employee in Nikšić had forwarded the video, there is no criminal offense here, not even a misdemeanor.

Simply put: some at the top of the security sector seem eager to revive the times of the notorious Lavrentiy Beria and Joseph Dzhugashvili Stalin…

Unfortunately, the three described cases represent fragments of the picture of today’s Montenegro. A picture that does not resemble the one from the political advertisements of the post-August government. On the contrary, how grim the reality is can be seen in the nonsense heard during Prime Minister’s Hour, promises without substance, and police actions without grounding in law or moral code…

Someone once uttered a curse: may you live in interesting times. It seems that in Montenegro, that curse has caught up with us - just as we stand on the threshold of joining the European Union.