(PHOTO/VIDEO) Pavićević: If you believe freedom is a constitutional right - defend it today; Cerović: Montenegro cannot be appeased by force and repression
If you believe that freedom is a constitutional right, defend it today. We are not asking for privileges, but for equal rights for all. If 35 of them are guilty, then we are all guilty - said journalist Tanja Pavićević at the solidarity gathering held in front of the Police Directorate building, organized in response to the prosecution of 35 individuals.
She emphasized that they had gathered today because yet another line had been crossed.
- A message has been sent that free speech is no longer possible in Montenegro. This is intimidation. A solidarity action has been launched, as well as a self-reporting action - Pavićević said.
Cerović: We are all the 35 being prosecuted
Psychologist and communications expert Radoje Cerović stated that Montenegro cannot be appeased by force and repression.
- We are all those 35 being prosecuted. On behalf of STEGA, I invite everyone to come to Gorica on December 19th - Cerović emphasized.
A group of citizens and civic activists had previously launched a “self-reporting” action after 35 individuals were prosecuted for protesting in front of Villa Gorica over this year’s awarding of the Thirteenth of July Award.
After signing the “self-reporting” action, a representative of the European Alliance Miloš Đuričković and journalist Tanja Pavićević went to the Police Directorate building, where they submitted the signed report.
Today, a Solidarity Action was held in front of the Police Directorate building, during which citizens had the opportunity to sign a previously completed online self-reporting form, as well as to fill out and submit the form on site.
The action was launched in response to misdemeanor proceedings initiated against 35 citizens who had previously expressed their views regarding the awarding of the Thirteenth of July Award, despite the Prosecutor’s Office stating that there were no elements of a criminal offense in their actions.
The goal of today’s gathering, as stated in the announcement, was to enable the technical implementation of the self-reporting process, as well as to draw attention to the problem of selective application of the law, given that misdemeanor proceedings were initiated against a limited number of citizens, even though a significantly larger number of people participated under the same circumstances.
The organizers of the solidarity action emphasized that this was not a protest or a public assembly within the meaning of the Law on Public Assemblies, but rather a civic and administrative act of solidarity, seeking equal treatment by institutions for all citizens.
As part of the action, the demand was once again reiterated that the police act in accordance with the law, without selectivity and without political influence, and that the constitutional right of citizens to freedom of expression be respected.
It was stressed that citizens are not seeking privileges, but equal rules for all, with the message: “If 35 are guilty, then we are all guilty”.
Access to the Police Directorate was blocked.
A citizens’ protest in front of Villa Gorica was held on July 8th of this year due to the awarding of the Thirteenth of July Award to Bećir Vuković, a denier of Montenegro and the Montenegrin nation, for the book “Houses of the Homeless” - which, incidentally, is not recorded in either national or regional library databases.
Before it was made public that Vuković was awarded for a work that does not exist, the Montenegrin PEN Center pointed out that the Jury for the Thirteenth of July Award had brutally violated the Law on State Awards, since all three laureates come from the field of cultural and artistic creation: Vuković is a writer, Miloš Karadaglić a musician, and Veljo Stanišić a graphic artist.
On December 8th the Police Directorate announced that misdemeanor proceedings had been initiated against 35 individuals for disturbing public order and peace and for actively attacking police officers during the gathering held on July 8th in front of Villa Gorica in Podgorica, on the occasion of the Thirteenth of July Award ceremony.
