Podgorica, Montenegro, November 17, 2022
Photo: mitropolija.com
The Montenegrin State Prosecutor’s Office in the capital city of Podgorica has opened a case to investigate the incident in June 2020 when His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro of blessed memory was excessively detained by police for several hours, reports the Metropolis of Montenegro.
His Eminence was summoned for questioning to the Podgorica Security Center on June 22 because of a complaint against him as the organizer of a cross procession held the day before, during the COVID pandemic.
Met. Amfilohije only left the Security Center after 6 hours. A large number of priests, faithful, and journalists were waiting for him. His lawyers explained to the crowd that the prosecutor intentionally and unprofessionally dragged out the meeting.
Holding an 83-year-old man for 6 hours is an inappropriate show of force by the prosecutor, they told the journalists and Church representatives.
In fact, Met. Amfilohije had been detained and interrogated by the police multiple times in a few months in the spring of 2020, when the faithful were regularly processing against governmental attempts to seize Church property. Poor in health, he reposed in the Lord that October.
The director of police administration, Zoran Brđanin, admitted on Tuesday that illegal actions were committed by detaining the Metropolitan.
According to Politika, information was heard at a session of the Parliamentary Committee for Justice on Tuesday that the Prosecutor had actually ordered His Eminence to be released from custody several hours before the police actually did so.
Prosecutor Nikola Boričić said the main question is why the police didn’t respect his order, and that he was then told by his boss in the Prosecutor’s Office to “not make waves” in public.
Met. Amfilohije led the Metropolis of Montenegro from December 1990 until his repose in October 2020.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
