LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution provides for freedom of conscience and religion, as well as the right to change religion. It also provides for the freedom of all individuals to express their religion in public and private, alone, or collectively, through prayer, preaching, custom, or rites and states individuals shall not be obliged to declare their religious beliefs. The constitution states the freedom to express religious beliefs may be restricted only if required to protect the life and health of the public, peace and order, or other rights guaranteed by the constitution. It specifies there is no state religion and guarantees equality and freedom for all religious communities in religious activities and affairs. The constitution permits courts to prevent propagation of religious hatred or discrimination and prohibits political and other organizations from instigating religious hatred and intolerance.

By law, it is a crime to cause and spread religious hatred, which includes publication of information inciting hatred or violence against persons based on religion, the mockery of religious symbols, which according to Humanists International is considered a common dimension of blasphemy laws, or the desecration of monuments, memorial tablets, or tombs. Violators may receive prison sentences ranging from six months to 10 years. If a violation is committed through the misuse of an official position or authority or leads to violence, or if the courts determine the consequences are detrimental to the coexistence of peoples, national minorities, or ethnic groups, the prison sentence ranges from two to 10 years.

The criminal code prescribes a fine between €200 and €16,000 ($220-$17,600) or up to two years’ imprisonment for restricting an individual’s freedom to exercise a religious belief or membership in a religious group or for preventing or obstructing the performance of religious rites. The code also provides for a fine of €600 to €8,000 ($660-$8,800) or a maximum of one year in prison for coercing another person to declare his or her religious beliefs. Any government official found guilty of these crimes may receive a sentence of up to three years in prison.

According to the 2021 amended religious freedom law, any religious community that previously existed in the country under a prior law enacted in 1977 may register and obtain legal status as an existing religious community. Religious communities and religious groups that registered under the 1977 religious freedom law are entered into a registration book (Book of Enrolled Religious Communities). Religious communities that did not exist under the 1977 law or register under the 2021 religious freedom law and are approved for registration are entered into a separate book for new religious communities. Groups listed in either book have legal status, which gives them the right to own or rent property; hold bank accounts in their own name; hire employees; receive a tax exemption for donations and sales of goods or services directly related to their religious activities; and receive judicial protection of their community, members, and assets. Unregistered religious groups also have the right to freely practice their faith, including to proselytize and receive donations and are eligible to receive financial or other assistance from the state through the MHMR. According to the law, any property disputes are settled in accordance with the existing legal code.

The amended religious freedom law recognizes the waqf, which are endowments made within the Islamic community, as a source of revenue for religious communities and a potential basis for property claims in court proceedings.

To register, a religious group must have at least three adult members who are citizens or have legal status in the country, and provide its name and organizing documents, the names of its officials, address of the group’s headquarters, and location(s) where religious services will be performed. The group must have a headquarters in the country and a name that differs from groups already registered.

There are 23 religious communities registered in the Unified Register of Religious Communities. These include the Serbian Orthodox Church (the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and Littoral of the SOC; the Eparchy of Budimlje and Niksic of the SOC; the Eparchy of Zahumlje and Hercegovina of the SOC; and the Eparchy of Mileseva of the SOC, registered as four groups); the MOC; the ICM; the Roman Catholic Church (Archdioceses of Bar and Kotor, registered as two groups); the JCM; the Christian Adventist Church; Jehovah’s Witnesses; the Diocese of Podgorica-Duklja of the Orthodox Church of Montenegro; the Church of Christ’s Gospel; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Montenegro; the Evangelical Church of the Word of God; the Christian Lighthouse Center; the Mosaic Christian Community; the Biblical Christian Community; the Community of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the Baha’i Community in Montenegro, the Evangelical Church Crossroads; the Religious Community of Jews, and the Catholic Salesian Community of Podgorica, a new group registered during the year.

The government has agreements with the ICM, JCM, SOC, and Holy See that further define the legal status of these respective groups and regulate their relationship with the state. The agreement with the Holy See recognizes Catholic canon law as the church’s legal framework and outlines the church’s property rights. The agreements with the ICM, JCM, and SOC have similar provisions. The agreements establish commissions between each of the three religious communities and the government. The government has no such agreements with the MOC or the other recognized religious groups.

The law allows all religious groups, including unrecognized ones, to conduct religious services and rites in churches, shrines, and other premises designated by local governments, but it requires approval from municipal police for such activities at any other public locations.

The law does not provide for religious groups to file for restitution of, or compensation for, property confiscated during the communist era. Individuals and private entities may file such claims.

The Justice Ministry regulates relations between state agencies and religious groups and is charged with protecting the free exercise of religion and advancing interfaith cooperation and understanding. The ministry provides some funds to religious communities and oversees communication between the government and religious communities. The ministry is also in charge of drafting new legislation defining the status and rights of religious organizations.

The law forbids “the abuse of religious communities or their religious sites for political purposes.”

The law provides prisoners the right to engage in religious practice and have contact with clergy. Prisoners may request a diet conforming to their religious customs.

The constitution recognizes the right of members of minority national communities, individually or collectively, to exercise, protect, develop, and express “religious particularities” (i.e., religious customs unique to their minority community); to establish religious associations with the support of the state; and to establish and maintain contacts with persons and organizations outside the country who share the same religious beliefs.

By law, religion may not be taught in public primary or secondary schools. The ICM operates one private madrassah at the secondary school level, and the SOC operates one secondary school, both of which offer religious instruction and follow the state curriculum in nonreligious matters. The SOC’s framework agreement with the government contains a unique provision regarding religious education not found in other religious organizations’ agreements, which states that “Orthodox religious teaching in public schools can be regulated, in accordance with and by the legal order of the State.”

The law prohibits discrimination, including on religious grounds. Offenses are punishable by a prison term of six months to five years. The Office of the Protector of Human Rights (ombudsman) is responsible for combating discrimination and human rights violations, including those against religious freedom, by government agencies, including public schools. Allegations of such violations in the private sector are outside the jurisdiction of the ombudsman and must be litigated in court. The ombudsman may investigate complaints of religious discrimination and, if it finds a violation, may request remedial measures. Failure to comply with the ombudsman’s request for corrective action within a defined period is punishable by fines of €500 to €2,500 ($550-$2,800). Government agencies generally implement the ombudsman’s recommendations, although often with delays. If necessary, courts may enforce such recommendations.

The constitution exempts conscientious objectors, including those objecting for religious reasons, from military service. Alternative service is not required.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

During the year, some members of the MOC said the government and the state judiciary did not protect their rights following a schism in the Church. On September 3, MOC Metropolitan Mihailo’s deputy Boris Bojovic led a public gathering to remove Mihailo from the leadership of the MOC and elect himself as leader. Mihailo immediately denounced the move as invalid under the MOC constitution and stated publicly that he remained the MOC’s leader. The Holy Synod of MOC Bishops expelled Bishop Bojovic from the church, according to Mihailo. On October 23, the Ministry of Justice rejected Bojovic’s complaint and request to name him as MOC Metropolitan in the state register of religious communities.

Separately, the MOC continued to pursue numerous property disputes with the government and the SOC. MOC officials said the MOC should have access to more than 750 Orthodox shrines currently under the SOC’s control. The MOC said the government took no action during the year to resolve the dispute between the SOC and MOC over ownership of these religious sites.

During the year, the ICM criticized then caretaker prime minister Dritan Abazovic, stating there was a disparity in government funding provided to religious communities, specifically, the ICM received significantly less than the SOC. The ICM emphasized that, while the SOC was granted approximately €585,000 ($644,000) in 2022, the ICM only received slightly more than €10,000 ($11,000). The ICM said the unequal allocation was unfair.

Media reported that during a Serbian New Year event, the mayor of Niksic, Marko Kovacevic, publicly sang a song referencing Montenegrin-Ottoman conflicts that contained lyrics that incited violence against Muslims. The song sparked widespread public condemnation for containing religiously motivated hate speech. ICM head Reis Fejzic equated Kovacevic’s actions to those of war criminals. Calls for legal action against Kovacevic and event participants were issued by several political parties and the NGO Human Rights Action.

In September, the city of Pljevlja’s local assembly voted to replace the town’s liberation day holiday with the Christian Orthodox Saint Petka holiday, sparking criticism that the decision undermined the country’s secular character as defined in the constitution and marginalized Muslims. SOC officials had urged the assembly to make the change “to free the town from the remains of the godless communist heritage.” The national government’s endorsement, required to formally confirm the decision, was pending at year’s end. Nevertheless, the local government celebrated Saint Petka Day in October as the annual municipal holiday. Opposition parties, the Bosniak Party, and the Islamic Community decried the change as exclusionary and unconstitutional. Representatives of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) said that after the government made its decision, the DPS would challenge the decision in court.

Religious groups, including the Catholic Church and the ICM, said they continued to advocate for clearly written laws to regulate religious property ownership and to raise the issue of restitution or compensation for properties, particularly places of worship or cemeteries, that they stated governments wrongfully seized from religious groups or their members in the past.

Catholic Church officials again said that, as one of the largest property owners in the country, it was engaged in numerous property disputes with the government and the SOC.

According to the ICM, it still had not received a response from local and state institutions to its request for a donated plot of land in Bar to build a mosque, initially requested in the 1980 ICM representatives believed that the local government was discriminating against the ICM because the local government had provided land for the construction of Catholic and Orthodox churches. In addition, the ICM reiterated its previous concerns regarding the limited capacity of its cemetery in Podgorica.

According to NGO Human Rights Action (HRA), the provision in the government’s 2022 framework agreement with the SOC that allows for the regulation of Orthodox religious teaching in public schools was not included in similar government agreements with other religious groups, which did not request religious education in public schools. HRA and other civil society organizations also contended that religious education in public schools contravenes the Law on Education.

During the year, ICM representatives described what they said was a concerning trend of marginalization of minority religious communities. ICM said members of their religious community continued to experience discrimination in the workplace in public institutions that limited their ability to advance professionally.

Several religious groups, including the Catholic, Muslim, and SOC communities, again voiced desire for broader and clearer tax exemption rules. SOC officials often stated that in practice religious communities did not benefit from their legal tax-free status because they generally paid value-added tax on all their purchases, and private individuals could not deduct donations they made to religious organizations.

Recognized religious communities continued to receive separate government-provided grant funding and in-kind assistance from other government ministries and from local governments. During the year, the Ministry of Justice gave a total of €228,610 ($252,000) to religious communities the same amount as in 2022. Religious groups and public figures contended that the government favored the SOC when it allocated €220,000 ($242,000) for the restoration of a church in Niksic and then it provided €900,000 ($991,000) to establish two private SOC-affiliated religious schools in Niksic.

In October, in the leadup to the country’s national census, then scheduled to start on November 1, but subsequently delayed until December 3, SOC Patriarch Porfirije, gave an address at Podgorica’s Christ’s Resurrection Church in which he urged the faithful to identify their ethnicity as Serb on the census. Porfirije’s call engendered media backlash and opposition party criticism, with observers framing it as SOC interference in domestic politics and an extension of Serbian government meddling that aimed to interfere with the integrity of the planned census. Minister of Interior Filip Adzic criticized Porfirije’s statement.

The SOC reported that journalists and columnists committed human rights abuses against its clergy and believers, primarily through derogatory and extremist public discourse. They stated that media outlets affiliated with “certain political parties, politicians, and activists” baselessly claimed the Church and its clergy meddled in politics and were aligned ideologically with Serbia and Russia. SOC leaders said these accusations and the scrutiny of their clergy’s public comments were part of an effort to suppress and threaten their religious freedom. Some commentators, however, said the SOC exerted pressure on the judicial system with the aim of silencing public criticism in the media regarding the SOC and its alleged malign influence in the country.

In January, then caretaker prime minister Abazovic met with JCM President Nina Ofner Bokan and the Chief Rabbi of Montenegro Luciano Mose Bokan. Abazovic said his government sought a friendly relationship with all religious communities, stressing the importance of interfaith harmony and unity in the country.

The SOC said the Ministry of Interior approved visas for clergy newly arrived in the country but did not address existing cases of clergy denied residence permits by the previous government.