Krvna osveta

Krvna osveta (Serbian Cyrillic: Крвна освета, Blood feud) is a law of vendetta among South Slavic peoples in Montenegro and Herzegovina, practised by Montenegrins, Serbs , Bosniaks and Croats (predominantly from Hercegovina) throughout history, first recorded in since medieval times. It is an oath of revenge for vendetta, meaning that the person must take revenge on whoever killed his relative by killing the murderer or one of the murderer's close relatives.[1]

The practice started in the Balkans in the 15th century, under Ottoman rule, and decreased in the 19th century, when the Balkan countries slowly got their independence from the Ottoman Empire.[2] In pre-Ottoman Serbian principalities, blood money (vražda) was paid, one half went to the Serbian Orthodox Church, while the other to the victim's family. After the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, self-governing clans often feuded with one another. Families in Serbia abandoned the tradition as more important threats to family integrity were posed by Albanians and Turks, rather than by their own ethnic group.

When a family member has been killed, the perpetrator's family (brotherhood/clan bratstvo) has a "blood debt" (krvni dug), which can be removed only when the victim's family (an appointed member, osvetnik) has had its revenge by killing the aggressor or any member of the murderer's family (often a close male kinsman, preferably the brother, but th e killing of children was not encouraged). Only then has the family of the victim received peace. However, the blood feud continues if a relative decides on revenge, regardless of who started it.[3] However, killing in one's own house is the worst action, represents immorality and is regarded a great shame in Montenegrin culture. If a criminal was murdered, it often did not result in a feud, as criminality was negative in the eyes of society, but in some cases, the criminal's family went on to kill serdars and other high-ranked people.

• In Montenegro, among local Slavic peoples the feuds predominantly affected Montenegrins.
• In Herzegovina (currently a region of both Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina) Montenegrins had feuds with each other. A neutral region was Grahovo and Vučja Zuba (triangle of Boka Kotorska, Montenegro and Herzegovina),where blood feuds were not recorded, but some feuds between local Croats and Serbs have been known to exist.

The revenge is not limited to males; females that have their husbands or relatives killed could take on the blood debt. An instance is recorded in the Bjelopavlići clan in which a widow took out revenge for the murder of her husband.[3]

If a clan finds and captures a thief or murderer in connection to the clan, it can go to the person's house or relatives and tell that the relative is a murderer or thief and end with something like "If we kill him, we are not to be held for." If the relatives answer "do what you like with him," the clan kills the captive and has no blood debt to its relatives because it settled his fate.

The blood feuds resulted in instability in the Balkan diaspora for centuries.