Criminal Code of the Republic of Montenegro (2003, as amended 2023)

 (English)(Emphasis added)

Excerpts related to Hate Crimes

Article 42a - Special Circumstances for Sentencing for a Hate Crime

(Law amending the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 040/13 of 13.08.2013, Article 3) (Law amending the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 044/17 of 06.07.2017, Article 6) (Law amending the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 110/23 of 12.12.2023, Article 5)

(1) When the criminal offence was committed out of hatred of another person due to national or ethnic affiliation, affiliation with race or religion or due to absence of such affiliation, disability, nationality or due to differences in political or other beliefs, sex, language, the colour of skin, education, social status, social background, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, the court 16 shall consider such circumstance as an aggravating circumstance unless it is prescribed as an element of a basic criminal offence or an aggravated criminal offence.

(2) When a criminal offence is committed against a person who belongs to a particularly vulnerable category of persons (children, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, elderly persons, refugees) such a circumstance shall be taken as aggravating by the court.

Article 399a - Violent Behaviour at a Sports Event or Public Gathering

(1) Whoever physically assaults or engages in physical confrontation with participants of a sports event or public gathering, who provokes violence or acts violently, brings into a sports facility or throws onto the sports grounds, among the spectators or participants of a public gathering, objects, pyrotechnics, or other explosive, incendiary or harmful substances that may lead to bodily injury or that may endanger health of participants of a sports event or public gathering, who goes onto the playing area without authority or into the opponents' fan section and provokes violence, damages the sports facility, its equipment, devices and installations, who by his conduct or chanting or banners displayed at a sports event or public gathering provokes ethnic, racial, religious or other hatred or intolerance on discriminatory grounds, which leads to violence or physical confrontation with participants, shall be punished by a prison sentence for a term from six months to five years and by a fine.

Article 168 - Endangering Safety

(1) Anyone who endangers the safety of other person by threatening to attack his/her life or body or a person close to him, shall be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year.

(2) Anyone who commits the act referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article against more than one person, or the act that has caused anxiety of citizens or other serious consequences, or was committed out of hatred, shall be punished by three months to three years of imprisonment.

Excerpts related to Hate speech offences

Article 370 - Provoking Ethnic, Racial and Religious Hatred

(Law amending the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 025/10 of 05.05.2010, Article 108) (Law amending the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 110/23 of 12.12.2023, Article 72)

(1) Whoever publicly incites to violence or hatred towards a group, or a member of a group defined by virtue of race, skin colour, religion, language origin, nationality or ethnic affiliation shall be punished by a prison sentence from six months to five years.

(2) The penalty referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall also be imposed on whomever publicly approves, denies the existence, or significantly reduces the gravity of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against a group or a member of group by virtue of their race, skin colour, religion, origin, nationality or ethnic affiliation in a manner which can lead to violence or cause hatred against a group of persons or a member of such group, where such criminal offences have been determined by a final judgment of a court in Montenegro or of an international criminal tribunal.

(3) Where the offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article was committed by coercion, illtreatment, endangering of safety, exposure to mockery of national, ethnic or religious symbols, 153 damaging property of another person, desecrating monuments, memorials or tombs, the perpetrator shall be punished by a prison sentence from one to eight years.

(4) Whoever commits the offence referred to in paragraphs 1 to 3 of this Article by abuse of office or where such offences result in riots, violence or other severe consequences to the joint life of nations, national minorities or ethnic groups living in Montenegro, shall be punished for the offence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article by a prison sentence from one to eight years and for the offence referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 by a prison sentence from two to ten years.