The Serbian Orthodox Church’s plan to hold a mass for the killed leader of the World War II Chetnik movement, Draza Mihailovic, has been called a “provocation” by the Montenegrin authorities.
The government in Podgorica has sharply criticised the announcement of a commemoration of the Chetnik commander Dragoljub ‘Draza’ Mihailovic in Montenegro, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
Culture minister Aleksandar Bogdanovic said on Sunday that the commemoration was a “disgrace”.
“In the background is a clear intention to violate the cult of anti-fascism in our country, which affects the social harmony and civil character of Montenegro,” Bogdanovic told reporters.
Bogdanovic reacted after the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro said it will hold a mass for Mihailovic to mark 72 years since his death.
“The fact that somebody, and especially a religious organisation, decided to stand behind an event that directly violates anti-fascist values… speaks of their clear readiness to provoke,” the minister said.
According to the announcement from the Serbian Orthodox Church, the service will be held in the coastal town of Herceg Novi in an event that will also mark 100 years since the deaths of the Russian Romanov royal family, killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
The commemorative event, which will also include a promotion for a book about relations between Montenegro’s Boka Bay region and Russia, is being staged by a local organisation called Srpski Soko (Serbian Eagle).
Mihailovic was the first Yugoslav leader of a popular uprising against the German invasion in 1941 and was quickly promoted to the rank of general and minister of war by the royal government in exile in London.
By late 1942, however, Mihailovic became convinced that Communism posed a greater long-term threat to Yugoslavia than the Axis occupation, and he sought to conserve his forces for a showdown with Josip Broz Tito’s Partisan forces.
During WWII, his forces, also known as Chetniks, were accused of committing war crimes and other atrocities.
After Tito’s Communists seized power in Yugoslavia, they hunted down Mihailovic and put him on trial in Belgrade in 1946. He was accused of collaborating with the Axis powers and of negotiating a ceasefire between his forces and those of Germany.
He was found guilty and shot two days later; his body was never found.
But in 2015, the Belgrade Higher Court rehabilitated Mihailovic, annulling the Communist-era verdict from 1946.
The Belgrade court ruled that the post-WWII trial of Mihailovic was “political and ideological” and made serious legal errors.
The Serbian church in Montenegro has staged similar events to commemorate Chetnik leaders in recent years.
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