Montenegro

Police in Montenegro on Friday detained a well known pro-Russian journalist, Igor Damjanovic, over his conversation on Facebook with another person who then filed a case against him.

But Damjanovic, who writes for the Russian media in the region, claims the police did not take him into custody over his Facebook jibes at a Facebook account holder called Alija Djukic.

Swiss skiier Joana Haehlen during the the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup women's downhill race in the Bulgarian town of Bansko on January 24, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/Vassil Donev.

Serbia's Antonina Dubinina mid-competition during the women's short program of the ISU European Figure Skating ​Championships in Graz, Austria, on January 24, 2020. EPA-EFE/Tatyana Zenkovich.

As protests continue in Montenegro over the recently adopted freedom of religion law, the government and Serbian Orthodox Church have both called for talks on resolving the dispute.

Both declined from last year, when Bosnia was ranked in 89th place, with 38 points, and North Macedonia came in 93rd place, with 37 points.

Bosnia shares its 106th place with Albania, which also declined in the rankings. It came in 99th place last year.

A Serbian Orthodox Church protest in Montenegro against the newly adopted law on religion, due to take place in Cetinje on Thursday night, has been canceled over security concerns. The Church has since announced that it is shifting the event from a protest walk in the town to an event inside the local monastery.

Montenegro's Higher Court on Tuesday quashed the warrant for the arrest of Yoram Frig, who is accused of terrorism for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the government in October 2016.

The two Montenegrin men who were shot and killed on Sunday by four masked gunmen while they were dining with their wives and two children in Vari, southern Athens, had pending international arrest warrants against them issued by Montenegro, according to Greek police.

Never-ending accession

French President Emmanuel Macron, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/MICHEL EULER / POOL MAXPPP OUT

Greek police on Monday were searching for four masked gunmen who burst into a popular restaurant a day earlier and shot dead two men from Montenegro.
One woman was wounded and hospitalized.

Police believe the case is potentially linked to the settling of accounts by Balkan criminal gangs.

Warfare between rival Montenegrin drug gangs has claimed more lives beyond the country's borders, after two members of the so-called Skaljari Clan were shot dead in Athens, Greece, on Sunday.