Four students from the "Naim Frashëri" high school in Durres spent the night in police custody in Kotor, Montenegro, after making the double-headed eagle symbol with their hands. The young people, who were on a school excursion, were detained after an elderly Montenegrin woman reported them, and this Sunday they appeared before the court, which imposed a reprimand, or verbal warning, on them.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of October 31, at around 5:30 p.m., as the students were returning from lunch. According to reports, an elderly woman asked them where they were from and they responded by making an eagle symbol with their hands. The woman reacted to the gesture and later notified the police, claiming that she had been threatened by the youths.
The Kotor police escorted the four high school students and detained them for the alleged offense of inciting national hatred. The students spent the night at the police station, where one of the teachers accompanying them on the excursion also went.
On the morning of November 1, the four young men appeared before the competent court in Montenegro. The trial ended with a verbal reprimand, without imposing a more severe punitive measure.
According to reports, the Regional Directorate of Pre-University Education in Durrës and the Ministry of Education were notified of the incident on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, as of the time of publishing this news, there has been no public reaction from the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs regarding the detention and trial of the four Albanian students in Montenegro. It has also not been announced whether Albanian consular authorities have intervened or provided assistance during their stay in police custody.
The incident ended with the students being reprimanded by the Montenegrin court, while the full circumstances of the incident and the treatment of the four young men during detention remain to be clarified.
