Montenegro's Rival Orthodox Churches in Land Dispute

The Montenegrin church on Sunday demanded an investigation into its Serbian rival's decision to lease a piece of land to a Qatari investor for the construction of the tourist complex on the coast.

It urged the Montenegrin authorities to stop the "violence coming from Belgrade" after the Serbian Orthodox Church revealed plans to lease the land in Buljarica Bay, near the town of Budva, for a century.

The Serbian church said that more than 230,000 square meters of land belonging to the monastery of Gradiste has been leased to the Qatari company CDCI, which plans to build a series of hotels and a marina in Buljarica Bay, one of the most attractive destinations on the Montenegrin coast.

But the Montenegrin Orthodox Church insisted that the Gradiste monastery and all its property is owned by the state and not by the "Montenegrin branch of the Belgrade Patriarchy".

It urged the state prosecutor's office and the state property protector to launch criminal proceedings against the Serbian church's priests.

"As a foreign legal entity, the Serbian Orthodox Church cannot make decisions about church property in Montenegro," the Montenegrin church said in a statement.

Montenegro, home to a large population of ethnic Serbs, hosts both the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church.

The Montenegrin Orthodox Church - suppressed after the country lost its independence after World War I - was refounded in 1993 and it is locked in a dispute over the ownership of most of the Serbian Orthodox Church's property in Montenegro.

It has not been recognised by any other Orthodox churches and enjoys less support among Montenegrin citizens than its Serbian rival.