Montenegrin Prosecution Investigates Football Fans Over Hate Chants

Members of football fan group Vojvode at a match in Niksic. Photo: Vojvode football fan group

On May 29, media published video footage in which a group of Sutjeska club fans called "Vojvode" (Dukes) chanted "Knife, wire, Podgorica", referring to a nationalist slogan that celebrates the 1995 mass killings by Serbs of Bosniaks in Srebrenica, Bosnia.

"The prosecution launched an investigation while police are collecting the necessary information in order to identify the person who chanted 'Knife, wire, Podgorica'. After all the required data and evidence have been collected, the prosecution will analyze them and make a decision," Higher Prosecutor Lepa Medenica told the media.

Sutjeska won the cup final match 5-4 on penalties against Arsenal from Plav. Police reported no incidents during the match.

On Tuesday, human rights activists and political parties called on authorities to investigate nationalist chants, saying hate speech must be publicly condemned and punished.

On Tuesday, Sutjeska's management said that any inappropriate and illegal messages should be condemned, while the Montenegrin Football Association announced disciplinary proceedings against Sutjeska due to the behaviour of their fans.

"Since our group was founded it has never been a part of political structures and parties. Our chanting has nothing to do with any genocide or insulting national minorities. We are a multi-ethnic group so please don't try to make us something we're not," the Vojvode football fan club said in a press release.

This was not the first such incident in football cup finals. In May 2021, during the match between Buducnost Podgorica and Decic, Podgorica's club fans, known as the Barbarians, chanted a derogatory term for Albanians.