While convicted pedophiles are greeted by a series of restrictions upon release from prison, the same rules apply to rapists whose victims are of legal age as for all other convicts.
"If a convicted rapist is released from a Serbian prison, but the victim is an adult - he is a free man," said Snežana Bjelogrlić, president of the Association of Judges of Serbia, for the BBC in Serbian.
"There is no obligation to report to the state or to face restrictions when choosing a job because Serbian laws do not recognize that."
Every third accused rapist in the world has already been convicted once for the same crime, show research, so it is believed that the number of returnees among rapists is the highest compared to all other crimes.
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In the media and on social networks in Serbia, information about one of the allegedly multiple convicted rapists has been shared for the past few days.
While media headlines warned women to stay away from the alleged rapist, social media users began posting photos of the man, alerting followers to his movements.
"When there is no systemic solution or state control, people take matters into their own hands," says lawyer Milena Vasić from the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights (Jukom).
"Then there is general panic," she tells the BBC.
Supervision, after decades of struggle by the non-governmental sector, could be prescribed by the new Government of Serbia, which will create a register of rapists, says Zorana Mihajlović, Vice-President of the Government of Serbia and President of the Government's Coordinating Body for Gender Equality.
"The current ministers will not initiate those changes.
"It will be a long process because each ministry has to allocate funds in the budget for it," Mihajlovic told the BBC
Many European Union countries have registers of rapists, but control measures vary.
'Be careful not to be raped'
Lawyer Milena Vasić from the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights deals with issues of sexual abuse due to her work, but she was surprised when she received a message from the president of the house council of the building where she lives.
The message stated that the convicted rapist had recently been released from prison, that he was hiding as a homeless person in one of the basements of the building and that he was expected to repeat the crime, but that the police had no legal grounds to keep him under surveillance.
"The last part of the message reads: 'MWe urge you to take all precautions'", says Vasić.
"You can't tell women - be careful not to be raped."
In the absence of a legal solution, Vasić believes that "responsibility is being shifted to people who are unable to protect themselves or protect themselves in the wrong way".
During 2021, a total of 498 reports were submitted for criminal acts against sexual freedom, i.e. for some type of sexual violence, the data is Republic Institute for Statistics.
Of this number, 277 people were accused, and 271 were convicted.
79 reports were filed for rape, four for abuse of a vulnerable person, 13 for abuse of position, while 108 reports were filed for sexual harassment.
When "people don't feel safe," explains the president of the Association of Judges of Serbia, convicts are especially stigmatized.
"Although we know that a large number of returnees are among sexual abusers, it is inhumane for the community to demonize all people as soon as they leave prison," says Bjelogrlić.
"Because they have served their sentence and are considered rehabilitated."
Control over convicts after serving their sentence "should be the job of civil servants and experts, not anyone on the street," believes Bjelogrlić.
Current restrictions
Convicted rapists are currently subject to the same restrictions as those who have served prison terms for non-sexual offenses.
Those convicted in Serbia for a period longer than six months cannot work in the army, police, judiciary, Security and Information Agency, nor in education, certain state and health institutions, according to data from the National Employment Service.
However, private companies also have the right to ask the courts for permission to make job vacancies one of the conditions that the candidate has no convictions.
Macanović believes that convicted rapists should be prohibited from doing certain jobs.
"Anything to do with children should be out of their reach," she says.
"Also, they should not have any freer access to women, in conditions where they are potentially unprotected."
Among such jobs, he adds, are jobs of taxi drivers, food and package delivery people.
"But they can still do some jobs," says Macanović.
"It is better for them to be employed, than to commit new crimes."
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Control of convicted pedophiles
The category of convicts for whom special measures apply are: pedophilia.
When they get out of prison in Serbia, they are not allowed to go near schools and kindergartens, to engage in work where they come into contact with children, they have to report to an expert every month, who checks how they live and work.
This is regulated by Mary's law, adopted in 2013, which prescribed stricter penalties for convicted pedophiles, including the criminal registry.
Convicted pedophiles are not even allowed to go near parks and playgrounds, and three days after leaving prison they must report to a social worker, that is, a trustee.
"Your commissioner is like that officer from American movies," says Macanković.
"He controls the convicts, checks if they have a job and how they fit in."
The commissioner has the right, he adds, to visit the convict at any time, to check if he has problems with opiates or alcohol, behavior, but also to supervise him at work.
"It is very important that those who leave prison know that they will be monitored in the future," she explains.
"So it adjusts behavior."
What is written in the register a pedophile
- Name and surname of the convicted person
- Identity number and address address of residence
- Data on the convict's employment
- Birthmarks, tattoos and photos
- Information about the criminal offense and the sentence to which the offender was sentenced
- DNA profile of the convict
* Source: Admina for fromvresolution of criminal sanctions of the Ministry of Justice
Macanković says that the solution to controlling convicted sex offenders over adults would be to create a register of rapists, following a similar principle to the register of pedophiles.
This would require changes to the Criminal Code.
Creation of a register of rapists and additional measures
Creation of a register of convicted sex offenders whose victims are adults is advocated by some state officials.
Citizens' Protector Zoran Pašalić he announced that they will seek changes to the law that would introduce control measures for those convicted of crimes against sexual freedom in order to prevent them from committing these crimes again after serving their sentences.
The law would regulate mandatory reporting to the police and the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions.
"There is also a mandatory notification of a change of residence, place of residence or workplace, a mandatory visit to professional counseling centers or institutions, as well as a mandatory notification of the intention to travel abroad," said Pašalić.
In order to create a register of rapists, Zorana Mihajlović says that "more institutions must adapt their own systems" and that money be allocated from the budget for this.
Among them are the ministries of internal affairs, justice, social protection and health, he adds.
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Practice in other countries
Many countries have official ones sex offender registries, and among them are Argentina, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Jamaica, Maldives, Malta, South Africa, USA, South Korea and Taiwan.
Restriction measures vary from state to state.
After being released from prison, sex offenders in Germany are under supervision for five years or even for life, if the commissioner controlling the convict so decides.
Supervision is terminated if the expert assesses that the released person will not repeat the violations.
Sex Offenders in Canada they cannot enter institutions where children are present en masse - such as schools, parks, swimming pools, playgrounds and kindergartens.
They can't even work or volunteer with children.
They may not even have contact with children without court supervision, and in some cases they are prohibited from using certain contents on the Internet.
Convicted sex offenders in Canada remain on the sex offender registry for life.
Access to the registry is restricted in most states.
The United States is among those where sex offender data is publicly available.
U register on the portal of the Ministry of Justice, it is not possible to see the entire list of convicts, but it is possible to search by first and last name, address, city or federal state.
This portal also allows searching by location, so users can see if there are sex offenders living within a few kilometers.
Is the regar should be public?
The Autonomous Women's Center says that the register of rapists should remain, as well as the register of pedophiles, available only to state authorities.
"There are many people in Serbia who have the same first and last name," says Vanja Macanković.
"If the list were public, it could easily happen that people get mixed up."
However, Zorana Mihajlović was earlier declared that "there is no reason not to know if bullies live around us".
"I think that's the only solution," Mihajlovic replied to the BBC's question about whether the register of rapists should be available to everyone.
However, if everyone could read the list, the prison sentence "would have no point", says Snežana Bjelogrlić from the Association of Judges of Serbia.
"In this way, people would be automatically placed on the pillar of shame and would never serve their sentence," he adds.
Watch the video about victims of rape in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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