The Autonomous Women's Center submitted comments on the Draft Law on Amendments of the Criminal Code. It was pointed out that it was disappointing that, despite the recommendations of the GREVIO Committee, the amendments did not propose an amendment regarding the change of the definition of rape, nor aligned definition of sexual harassment with the Grevio recommendation. It was particularly disappointing that the amendments to the Criminal Code did not envisage the introduction of a new criminal offense - Unauthorized sharing and misuse of a video of intimate content, and thus failed to comply with Chapter 2 of Directive 2024/1385/EU on the fight against violence against women and domestic violence.

While the Autonomous Women's Center is not against increasing the penalties for crimes against sexual freedom and the crime of domestic violence, we believe that increasing the penalties as such is not enough.

Therefore, AWC believes that security measures, stated in art. 79 of the Criminal Code should be amended with the introduction of new security measures, namely the measure of removal from the mutual household, the measure of banning access to the Internet and the measure of protective supervision after serving full prison sentence; that additional par. 6 to art. 80 should be added so that the ban of approaching and communicating with the injured party may be imposed in the event that the offender is sentenced to a security measure of mandatory psychiatric treatment at liberty and mandatory treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts; stipulated that for crimes against marriage and family, against sexual freedom, persecution, sexual harassment and unauthorized publication of intimate content recordings, a suspended sentence can be imposed only with a measure of protective supervision or work in the public interest, and that work in the public interest can be imposed without the defendant's consent.

Furthermore, AWC believes that, in accordance with the Istanbul Convention, other aggravating circumstances such as severe damage to physical and mental health, an act committed against multiple victims or committed against a family member has to be added to the crime of rape. However, the fact that proposed harmonization of punishments did not include the criminal offense of sexual intercourse through the abuse of position, which, if adopted, will lead to the fact that the perpetrators of sexual intercourse with a child (in paragraphs 1 and 2) will be punished with lenient sentence if they did the act through the abuse of position (paragraphs 3 and 4) than when the perpetrator is an unknown person.

Other missed opportunities to improve the Criminal Code through amendments were also pointed out. However, the AWC is of the opinion that everything stated in the explanation of the amendments and additions, as regards harmonization with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, will not be achieved if the proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code will be adopted. AWC fears that proposed amendments will undermine the level of the achieved rights of the victims of GBV crimes (the status of especially vulnerable witness, protection measure in accordance with Article 197 of the CPC) and ruin the concept of prosecutorial investigation and prosecution as a prosecuting authority, by giving the defendants greater rights than those of the prosecutors.

Comments and proposals for amendments on the Draft Law on Amendments of the Criminal Code available HERE only in Serbian.