Montenegro is Intensifying Its War With Critical Journalists

All three arrests happened at a time of high tension in Montenegro. All over the country, tens of thousands of people are protesting against the new Law on Freedom of Religion, which parliament passed in the last days of 2019, despite being challenged by most of the opposition and by the Serbian Orthodox Church, the main faith group in the country.

The arrests have been condemned by local professional associations, civil society organisations and the opposition.

They all say that self-regulation and raising professional standards are the best medicine against misinformation. International institutions have also shown concern, including Reporters without Borders, RSF, which said that taking journalists into custody cannot be a good way to fight fake news, and could compromise human rights and media freedoms.

But the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, has backed the actions of the prosecution and the police, calling fake news a type of "special war that certain centres are waging via persons hiding behind journalists' IDs".

Gojko Raicevic and Drazen Zivkovic, editors of portals In4S and Borba. Photo: In4S

According to the DPS, the ultimate goal of this misinformation is to destabilize Montenegro, spread panic, and endanger the safety of citizens.

However, the key question is who is really destabilizing Montenegro - journalists, or the DPS - now into its third decade of rule and which claims to be the only guarantor of the country's preservation and its stability.

Montenegro is one of the few countries in Europe that has never in its history changed the ruling party in an election. The Berlin Wall has essentially not been torn down here, nor has a democratic society been fully formed.

The system is still...