Vesna Bratic Is Not on Trial Because She Is Serbian

2026-02-18 - 07:26

Good morning! Yesterday I wrote on Twitter: “Vesna Bratic is a test of our tolerance and our genuine belief in the rule of law as a value. The fact that Vesna is a toxic nationalist and a denier of Montenegro — that is her right, not something to be put on trial for. If she were tried for that, I would be the first to protest for her right to be a fascist.” Immediately, bots came after me — on one side Bratic’s defenders because I called her a fascist, and on the other side, defenders of those arrested and convicted from the other end of the political spectrum — telling me to go protest with Dara from Smokovac. And that is the misfortune of this and every other proceeding: all of us are full of talk about the rule of law, but only when it is used as a weapon against our political, ideological, and identity opponents. Don’t forget to join our Viber community. Vesna Bratic Is Not on Trial Because She Is Serbian Then I continued on Twitter: “But she is not being tried for that, and even less because she is Serbian and a believer of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The top of our prosecution service is unnaturally close to the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, so I doubt they would sue her for that. Ideally, the public focus should be on what she is actually being charged with.” In the coming days, we will find out what Ms Bratic is being charged with. Supporters are now framing everything as if she is being prosecuted solely because she dismissed a DPS headmaster, and that, as Danilovic said, she should receive a medal for that rather than be jailed. If the indictment were based only on that, she would be turned into a heroine and a fighter against the regime, who suffered only because she was a bit too enthusiastic about the goals of the counter-revolution. However, from what I hear, the problems with her management of four ministries are much deeper, and the double negative report of the State Audit Institution pointed to numerous irregularities in the spending of budget funds — that is, that there was neither budgetary justification nor legal grounds for much of the money Vesna managed. That does not surprise me. According to many testimonies, Vesna was characterised as a “big spender” while heading the ministry. She spent and managed resources as if they were her own money. The prosecution should communicate all the details of their reasoning for launching the case and ordering her detention for 30 days. The public has the right to know. The responsibility of judicial authorities is even greater because large-scale manipulation may occur, and a wave of disinformation has started from all sides, putting pressure on political parties and judicial bodies to halt the proceedings and absolve Bratic. Milatovic and Mandic have risen up, as have Bratic’s colleagues from her small party, and the entire network of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbia is being mobilised to portray this as a struggle against Serbs and the Serbian people in Montenegro. The prosecution’s decision may be coincidental, but coming at this very moment — when dissatisfaction and frustration among Serbian nationalists are growing over symbols and over the acceleration of Montenegro’s path toward the EU — this is like pouring fuel on the fire. In the coming days, the greatest burden will be on the prosecution to communicate with the media and provide the public with more information about what Bratic did in the ministry to warrant such a dramatic arrest and public display — so that officials from the Democrats can boast and claim credit for it, as they do every time someone from the former regime is arrested. That’s all for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day. Kind regards, Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist (Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)