Montenegro Expels Serbian Priest as 'Security Threat'

Velibor Dzomic, the top Serbian Orthodox priest in Podgorica and the secretary of the church in Montenegro, left the country on Sunday evening after his fourth application for a residency permit was turned down by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

Dzomic had to leave Montenegro after the National Security Agency said that his activities in the country "jeopardised national security, peace and order". The agency gave no further details about why it considered Dzomic a threat. 

The priest said that the decision was illegal and announced that he would appeal.

"Be sure that this decision will turn out a failure," he told reporters on Sunday before his deadline to leave the country expired at midnight.

The Serbian Orthodox Church and pro-Serbian parties in Montenegro sharply criticized the decision to expel the priests, claiming that it was political persecution.

The leading Serbian bishop in Montenegro, Amfilohije, said that it was an attempt to destroy the church, comparing the authorities to the former Yugoslav socialist government.

"Their predecessors were also the same. They were killing priests," Amfilohije said.

The opposition Socialist People's Party and New Serbian Democracy party also described it as an attack on the church.

Dzomic, who holds Serbian citizenship, has lived in Podgorica for 22 years and was a professor at one of the country's universities. 

The Ministry of Internal Affairs denied him a temporary residency permit for a fourth time on Friday. On the three previous occasions, the Administrative Court overturned the ministry's decision not to allow him a permit. 

Dzomic's legal representatives said that they still hoped that a fourth court appeal would rule in...