Stalinist Purges, Courtesy of the Democrats

Written by Đorđe Šćepović

Not even in Gogol’s prose will you find as many government departments as there are ministries in Montenegro. And Gogol was quite generous when it came to bureaucracy. Montenegro is a paradise for political cronies. This is hardly a new state of affairs for us. But even the previous regime, for all its greed, looked like a model of monastic humility compared to those who now preach freedom and democracy to the masses, the very ones who ignited the revolutionary fire, supposedly to cure our long-suffering spirit of decades of illness. That’s exactly how they spoke while waging their political battles under the patronage of the Serbian Church. Meanwhile, Vijesti and other Belgrade mouthpieces promised us salvation.

Yet among the deadly sins, greed and gluttony still rank at the top of the list. And now the Church lectures us on virtue and morality? A Church steeped in greed, gluttony, and pedophilia? A Church that canonizes murderers and offers sanctuary to war criminals, blessing their mothers?

But let’s return to the endless ministries and the political scavengers. We’ve long known that in Montenegro, the party has often taken precedence over the public good. But since 2020, the party has come before common sense. Every day, we witness a brazen display of power, a complete absence of consequences for wrongdoing. And the regime does this openly, without hesitation. Because they can.

Ever since Ura was discarded, having served its purpose like the cheapest streetwalker, the Democrats have carried the baton of shamelessness. And they prove it with every public appearance.

The Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development, Damjan Ćulafić, said at a recent panel: “We will restore citizens’ trust by cleansing the institutions”. Ćulafić is a Democrat from his glasses down to his shoes. Suit, tie, impeccable party discipline, limited and highly recognizable vocabulary, everything you’d expect from Minister Ćulafić. He is a minister because he is an obedient servant of the ruling party. A minister without identity, color, scent, or taste, just like his party comrades.

But what was he telling the public? That, in line with the party agenda, the purge of Montenegrin institutions will continue. That, in line with the party agenda, they will rid institutions of anyone not aligned with the current regime. That, in line with the party agenda, they will fill those institutions with loyal party soldiers.

This has been the Democrats’ playbook since 2020. The Stalinist purges show no sign of slowing. All that’s missing now are gulags for anyone who retains a shred of personal dignity without a party card, a red tie, and the same speechwriter. So, Minister Ćulafić is publicly announcing that the persecutions and purges will continue. Until the complete extermination of opposition within the herd, Minister?

That the Democrats are unmatched in their transgressions was confirmed by the recent “Paunović case.” Do you even remember what happened just a few days ago? Milan Paunović and his handlers were so unconvincing, I wouldn’t blame you if you’d already forgotten. Still, there are some curious details about Mr. Paunović.

A high-ranking official in the Interior Ministry for decades, he suddenly decided to break a 30-year vow of silence. Fair enough, a Buddhist monk once kept silent for 50 years, until his abbot finally permitted him to speak.

But we must ask, who is the abbot in Milan Paunović’s case? Who wrote and ordered him to struggle through reading that pious, memoir-like statement? A text accusing the dead, those who can no longer defend themselves. A text in which even a pop singer is accused of belonging to a paramilitary group?!

If I had to guess, I’d say the Democrats were the spiritual mentors behind Officer Paunović’s performance. What can one say about this sudden, belated courage, this supposed honor and truth-telling, this public frenzy that will cast you in bronze and declare you a hero after just one statement smearing everything that came before the Great Upheaval of 2020? Even if you were, until yesterday, a thug in the service of the former dictatorship.

But if Mr. Paunović was so afraid to tell the truth all these decades, if he kept silent out of fear that pop singers might attack again, why didn’t he ease his conscience in 2020, when the DPS regime fell to the Serbian Church? Why did he wait until now to read aloud a text written by someone else?

And will Officer Paunović face consequences for keeping silent about crimes, if what he claims about murders, assaults, and more is true? Of course not. The circus has already left town. Another failed attempt by the regime to tarnish and demonize Montenegro’s independence. Just as every future attempt will fail. They’ll simply have to find better repentant actors, ones who can at least rehearse their lines. Even the staging felt like something out of Dragan Koprivica’s creative workshop.

Both Milan Paunović and everyone else who agrees to play a part in this regime’s theater should remember one thing: “A truth that is not spoken at the right time is worse than a lie”.