Metodije testifies in case over Pavle Đurišić monument
Metropolitan Metodije of Budimlje and Nikšić testified today as a witness before the Basic Court in Berane in proceedings against Vujadin Dobrašinović over the erection of a monument to notorious Chetnik commander Pavle Đurišić in the village of Gornje Zaostro on August 8, 2025, Television E has confirmed.
Goran Kiković and Nikola Raičević were also questioned. Raičević is suspected of threatening Vijesti photojournalist Boris Pejović on the same day and demanding that he delete photographs documenting the removal of the monument to Đurišić.
The next hearing has been scheduled for October 15, when another member of the clergy is expected to testify.
According to information obtained by our outlet, the proceedings have been delayed due to the health condition of Vujadin Dobrašinović, a Berane resident and owner of the property where the monument to Đurišić was erected on August 7 before being removed.
Dobrašinović was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully erecting a memorial, but was later released to defend himself while remaining at liberty.
The monument was erected in Gornje Zaostro near Berane on August 7 last year without prior notification to the relevant authorities and outside the procedures prescribed by law. It commemorated Pavle Đurišić, a World War II Chetnik commander notorious for collaborating with the occupying forces and for massacres of civilians.
The life-size bronze statue, mounted on a concrete pedestal, was unveiled near the site of a traditional gathering, in the presence of local residents and supporters of the Chetnik movement.
An incident occurred while the statue was being installed and journalists were covering the event. Photojournalists Stevo Vasiljević and Boris Pejović, along with journalist Balša Rudović, were attacked.
The erection of the monument immediately prompted a response from state institutions, including police intervention and action by the prosecution. The monument was subsequently removed from the site.
Pavle Đurišić was one of the most notorious Chetnik commanders in Montenegro and the wider region. Numerous historical documents, including a report he personally submitted to Draža Mihailović, document his responsibility for the persecution and mass killing of Muslim civilians in Sandžak, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. His units were responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians - including women, children and the elderly - as part of a campaign aimed at creating ethnically „pure“ territories.