Batrićević: There is no prosecutor's office or court that will force me to remain silent on the celebration of war criminals

There is no prosecutor's office or court that will force me to remain silent on the celebration of war criminals - said FCJK professor Dr. Boban Batrićević after the Higher State Prosecutor's Office asked the Court for Misdemeanors in Podgorica to initiate proceedings against him because of the column published on the portal Antenna M.
Today, I received a summons to appear as a defendant at the Court for Misdemeanors in Podgorica on January 22, 2024. The reason - a request for a court decision due to a column that I published on August 11, 2023 on the Antena M portal, for which I am a regular columnist. State prosecutor Snežana Šišević signed the request to initiate misdemeanor proceedings. After quoting parts of my column out of context, prosecutor Šišević established that the prosecution found that "the defendant's actions did not constitute the elements of a criminal offense, but the elements of a misdemeanor". Then he concludes: "Because of the above, and since the defendant's actions fulfill all the elements of the offense from Article 19 of the Law on Public Order and Peace, I suggest that he be declared guilty and punished according to the law" - stated Batrićević.
The text he published dealt with the analysis of the actions of the priests and priests of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro - more precisely, as Batrićević pointed out, the dangerous narratives of two bishops - Joanikij Mićović and Metodij Ostojić.
In a satirical manner, through the process of the questionnaire that I compiled in order to fill in the answers by presenting their statements given on various occasions in the last few years, I wanted to show that those two high church dignitaries of the Church of Serbia are dangerously threatening the foundations of the civil, democratic and anti-fascist society of Montenegro, and that in the public discourse is launching very dangerous viewpoints that glorify war criminals, Russian aggression against Ukraine and questionable attitudes towards the Other and different, in this particular case - Muslims - Batrićević pointed out.
In his response, he cited several examples and noted with an exclamation point (!) that the prosecutor Šišević also cited the same examples.
Example 1: The basic postulates on which Christianity rests are love and forgiveness. It is written in the holy books. Therefore, the basis of the Christian faith lies in the teaching of Jesus that we must love our enemy and that when we receive a slap, we turn the other cheek. Guided by that thought, I asked a logical question in the questionnaire:
"Does he spread love and forgiveness, the basic postulates of Christianity?"
I completed the answer by quoting from the speeches of Messrs. Metodije and Ioanniki:
"Metodije Ostojić: 'And then you, who led those others - communists who committed all kinds of crimes - but we who follow the truth can tell the truth: that they filled the pits, some of which are still alive today, and that is terrible to say, in the 21st century, full of innocent human bones, around Nikšić, the Kotor pit, there is a Italian woman pit where Italians were also thrown, they killed a priest, respectable people, householders. To this day, those pits are full and no one is allowed to mention their names, nor to start taking human bones out of those pits.'
Joanikije Mićović: 'Because the Montenegrins were so greedy to cut off Turkish heads and they were so greedy to harvest heroism, so that someone would then take over the bound Osman Pasha. It's an anecdote, I don't know if it's true or not. But still, it means something. It reminds us of some things from our past. And what was in the past is still present in us today" - stated Batrićević.
As another example, he cited the pursuit of peace, which is a fundamental value of the United Nations.
Representatives of religious organizations are obliged to respect this. In the midst of Russian aggression against Ukraine, when the entire democratic world stood up to protect the territorial integrity of independent Ukraine, Metodije Ostojić praised Russia. On the other hand, the very tense enthronement of Ioanikijev in Cetinje, when there were almost no civil conflicts in Montenegro, required the appropriate rhetoric of the "church fathers". However, a few days before the enthronement of Joanikija Mićović, he sent a very questionable message. That's why I asked the question in the questionnaire:
Are they calling for peace?
I filled out the answer with the following statements from them:
"Metodije Ostojić: 'Russia is the hope for the entire freedom-loving world ... In holy Russia there is hope for the salvation of not only the Orthodox nations, but the whole of Europe and the world.'
Joanikije Mićović: 'It is a big deal that this right is denied not only to me, but also to the church and the Orthodox people in Montenegro from some groups that appear like mushrooms after the rain. But we know that mushrooms are not long-lasting and that will disappear," Batrićević pointed out.
Citing the third example, he pointed out that dealing with war crimes is a measure of the maturity of the individual, institution and society.
The Chetnik movement has been characterized in historiography as collaborative, pro-fascist and criminal. Consequently, I asked the question:
Do they celebrate or condemn criminals?
The answer was given by Methodius and Joanicius:
"Metodije Ostojić: 'Those people we remember today, General Dragoljub Draža Mihailović, Duke Pavle Đurišić and other commanders and soldiers remained faithful to the one they swore to. When even the one to whom they swore said that they should approach someone else, that what they had been fighting until now was going to ruin, that life and circumstances were going in some other way and direction, they did not fall into despair even then, but remained faithful. '
Joanikije Mićović: 'Draža Mihailović was treated as an ally all the time. He had authority from the Yugoslav government in London, and that government was an allied government all along. And he was treated as an ally by Western countries all the time. President Truman awarded him the highest decoration for saving the American pilots. That award was presented to the daughter of Draža Mihailović through the American Embassy in Belgrade in 2005," Batrićević stated.
At the end, he wrote a conclusion and a lesson for the plaintiff.
Based on the procedure I used and the citation of the lines of Messrs. Joaniki and Metodi, it is clear that as someone who adheres to the principles of reconciliation, forgiveness, peace and dealing with war crimes, I have the right to a value judgment. And I put that value judgment as a hypothesis in my text, saying:
"The priests of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro do not preach the faith of Christ. They talk about Serbian nationalism. They indoctrinate. They spread hatred and xenophobia. Therefore, they are not priests and monks, they are torokusha and preachers of hatred. How else to christen their activity?"
Then I presented the facts, the original excerpts from the speech of the said gentlemen. And according to all the laws of writing, he presented a logical conclusion:
"From what has been offered, it is clear that the priests of the Church of Serbia have only one mission - to pollute Montenegro, to write down its history and territory, to send disturbing messages to all non-Serbs of this country. Society's response to their actions does not exist. Everyone was assaulted - some by work, some by an armchair, some by a curse, some by witchcraft. Because this is what Great Serbian Orthodoxy is offering us today - anger, power and curse. As long as this uncontrolled status of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro is not challenged, Montenegro will be a slave to Belgrade's whims and the ground on which they will carry out special operations of appropriation, assimilation and subversion. The Church of Serbia is an evil that destroys multi-ethnic and multi-religious Montenegro and Montenegrin national, cultural and territorial identity in the long term. It is necessary to respond to her actions with the Montenegrin version of Orthodoxy, with love and faith in Christ's mission. To begin with, reform the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and start anew, from the ice, as the first Christians. There is no church in the world that resembles the original Christianity more than the Montenegrin one - persecuted, stigmatized, oppressed. These are excellent foundations for the beginning of the struggle - the struggle for religious freedoms, which Orthodox Montenegrins obviously do not have today."
All of the above is verifiable, which means that I offered confirmation and thus did not mislead the reader and expose them to misinformation. Second, I stuck to the questionnaire method because it was the most suitable for the nature of the text - the column.
Therefore, at the end, I ask the prosecutor a question: Is it a misdemeanor that I warned that two high representatives of the Church of Serbia spread hatred, glorify Russia, threaten Montenegrin organizations that they will disappear like mushrooms after the rain, and that Draža Mihailović and Pavle Đurišić are heroes, even though they were convicted as war criminals? I am telling you: there is no prosecution and no court that will force me to accept that "tearing off Turkish heads is within us", that today's Russia is perfection and that Draža and Pavle are good guys who were damaged by the communists. And you according to your conscience, and I will according to mine. Rather, I represent myself here, and you think - are you representing a state or a church whose believers celebrate war criminals? May it serve for your honor - concluded Batrićević.
M.J.