Montenegro Greens Protest After Lake Conservationist’s Home is Torched

Pajovic house on fire. Photo: Podgorica Fire Department

Ratko Pajovic, from Carp Security, an NGO, called it an act of blatant intimidation and urged the Montenegrin authorities to conduct a proper investigation.

"This is what poachers do to intimidate guards on the lake. What is next, a bullet in our heads?" Pajovic told the media on Friday.

"We expect an urgent reaction from the police and the prosecution because no one else can stand behind this except those whom we do not allow to destroy fish and continue with their dirty criminal activities," he added.

The Podgorica fire department reported that the fire broke out sometime after midnight and said the guard's wooden cottage was completely burned down. Police carried out an initial investigation, and said they would determine the cause of the fire.

Pajovic said he was threatened after he and his security guards started to patrol the lake two months ago. He said he had a history of being intimidated. "Not so long ago my car was vandalized in Podgorica, and two years before my boat was damaged. The police never found the perpetrators," he said.

The NGO Human Rights Action added its voice to calls for an urgent reaction, saying it was not the first time Pajovic had been attacked.

"This state has a special international obligation to protect Pajovic as a defender of a healthy environment. He has the right to special protection of the state from attacks related to his activism," it said in a press release.

The head of Montenegrin National Parks, Elvir Klica, also called on the authorities to protect Pajovic, saying that he was helping their rangers to protect the lake.

Conservationists in Montenegro warn of ecological disaster in one of Europe's last freshwater...