Physical education teacher from small Bosnia and Herzegovina. of the city bought off the six-month prison sentence he was sentenced to for sexually harassing a minor. Instead of serving his sentence behind bars, he paid 9,150 KM.
According to the verdict of the Basic Court in Derventa, which Fokus had access to, the harassment lasted from October 2021 to February 17, 2022. During that period, the teacher Ž. N. touched her breasts and buttocks and made inappropriate comments to her.
The first-instance conviction was handed down on February 25, 2025 by judge Zoran Lazić, who is also the president of the Basic Court in Derventa.
The verdict became final in April
The girl’s father addressed the portal Fokus.ba, stating that the convicted teacher is still moving freely around the city, and that the family had no information about a possible appeal, nor whether a final verdict had been passed.
We sent an inquiry to the Basic Court in Derventa, and received an answer that the judgment became final on April 28, 2025.
“Neither the accused nor the District Prosecutor’s Office in Doboj filed a complaint,” the court’s response states.
After the verdict became final, the convict filed a request to replace the prison sentence with a fine. The court accepted that request and on May 28, 2025 issued a decision on commutation of the sentence, which the convicted person paid.
What does the law say?
The president of the court and the judge in this case, Zoran Lazić, answered our question about who made the decision on commutation of the sentence.
“Regarding the substitution of a prison sentence for a fine, the provisions of Article 46a of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska – the provision is of an imperative nature – it is determined that the court will replace the imposed prison sentence that does not exceed one year of imprisonment with a fine at the request of the convicted person. Therefore, the provision itself, until the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Srpska has determined its unconstitutionality, is completely clear and does not give the judge any room but to replace the prison sentence of up to one year with a fine. The accused was replaced prison sentence with a fine in the amount of 9,150 KM, which the accused paid in full”, the president of the Basic Court in Derventa wrote in his response to Fokus.
Chronology of the case
Portal Fokus.ba wrote about this case a year ago, when a physical education teacher was accused of fornicating with a child under the age of 15. The girl, then 13 years old, was his student and attended the seventh grade of elementary school.
The abuse began in October 2021, and the girl told her parents everything in February 2022. The indictment was confirmed in June 2022, but the proceedings were often delayed due to the defendant’s request. Only after the text on Fokus, the process continued.
The court later changed the classification of the act of sexual harassment with a child under the age of 15 to sexual harassment. Although the verdict of six months in prison seemed small at the time, the girl’s father considered it “a sign that justice was at least partially served.”
When he found out that the sentence was changed to a fine, he says he was shocked.
“It was all for nothing”
“I lost 50-60 daily wages during the trial, no one compensated me for anything. They found a lawyer, since we are poorer, so they told us to sue him privately. But what can I use to pay a lawyer? I work for daily wages, I have a disabled wife and two children,” the now 17-year-old’s father told Fokus.
He says that his daughter went through a difficult period of being rejected by her peers, because many of them thought that she was lying about what she had survived. The verdict proved that she was telling the truth all along. Now he attends high school, has a new girlfriend and plans to enter the police academy.
“She told me not to try anything anymore. She wants to move on,” says her father.
The law and the sense of injustice
This case is another bitter reminder of the law that allowed prison sentences for sexual harassment of minors to be commuted to fines. The case shows a deep crack in the system and sends the message that sexual harassment of a minor can be “paid for”, while the victim and her family bear the long-term consequences.
(TYPE/Source: Fokus.ba/Author: M. Duhaček/Photo: Illustration/Detektor.ba)
