Montenegrin Party Urges Diplomatic Corps to Stop Gov't Seizure of Serbian Church's Assets
Leaders of the Montenegrin Democratic Front political party on Tuesday called upon foreign embassies to influence the country's leadership and prevent seizure of Serbian Orthodox Church's (SOC) property, after the adoption of a controversial "religious freedom" bill
On Friday, the country's parliament voted in favor of the new religious freedom bill, which proposes to make all religious buildings that were owned by the Kingdom of Montenegro before it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918 public property. The Serbian Orthodox Church thinks its assets could be seized and given to the self-proclaimed Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is unrecognized by other Orthodox institutions. The bill was signed into law by President Milo Dukanovic on Saturday, sparking violent protests.
"Our duty is to warn you about the seriousness of the socio-political moment in which our state finds itself, and also to urge you to stop via diplomatic means any further steps by the Montenegrin regime aimed at seizing the SOC's property and facilitate a recall of the discriminatory law," the party said in a letter to the diplomatic corps.
For years, Montenegro, as the Diocese of Montenegro and the Littoral, has been a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In recent years, however, the Dukanovic government has been supporting the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which proclaimed itself autocephalous in 1993, saying that the Serbian Orthodox Church undermined his country's independence.