Andrej NIKOLAIDIS
In March 2024, an effigy of prominent writer, journalist and PEN member Andrej Nikolaidis, was burnt at a carnival in Herceg Novi, southwestern Montenegro. The incident was the latest in a series of harassment and smears against Nikolaidis, on account of his views critical of the Montenegrin authorities (see Case List 2022).
On 2 March 2024, organisers of the Herceg Novi carnival burned an effigy of Andrej Nikolaidis, amidst chants denigrating his mixed ethnicity and association with Montenegrin literature. The incident generated wide coverage in Montenegro and the broader region, with civil society and academics fearing his targeting was reminiscent of historical acts of book burnings and meant to intimidate critical thinkers. Both the Montenegrin PEN Centre and PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina condemned the incident. Nikolaidis himself expressed concerns he was being targeted for his dissenting views.
Known for his political activism, anti-nationalism, anti-war stance, and support for human rights, Andrej Nikolaidis has received many threats throughout the years, including a death threat during a live radio appearance. In August 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro notably announced it would consider revoking the status of ‘Prominent Cultural Creator of Montenegro’ from Nikolaidis, due to aesthetic statements he made about writers Ivo Andrić and Petar II Petrović Njegoš. Nikolaidis subsequently faced online smears and backlash in pro-government media. At the time, PEN International and the Montenegrin PEN Centre raised concerns that Nikolaidis was being targeted for his vocal opposition to the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, and of Russian and Serbian attempts to interfere in Montenegrin internal affairs.
Andrej Nikolaidis, born in 1974, is an acclaimed and influential Montenegrin-Bosnian writer and journalist. He is a member of both the Montenegrin PEN Centre and PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina. His novel Sin (The Son) won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2011 and Montenegro’s prestigious Thirteenth of July Award in 2020. His novel Anomaly was notably awarded English PEN’s PEN Translates award in 2024.