On January 12, the State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana filed an indictment against the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije Perić, on charges of workplace harassment in the case of priest Željko Lubarda, who claims he was subjected to long-term pressure because he refused to give false testimony in order to cover up financial embezzlement in the church treasury, Nova.rs reports.
According to a document from the District State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana dated February 10, 2026, which the Nova.rs portal has access to, the indictment was filed against the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije Perić, who was the Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana at the time, as well as against the Serbian Orthodox Church - Church Municipality of Ljubljana as a legal entity.
In response to an inquiry from Nova.rs, the Slovenian prosecutor's office confirmed that in this case, an indictment was filed with the Ljubljana Municipal Court (Okrajno sodišče v Ljubljani) against one person for workplace harassment, as well as against one legal entity for liability for the same criminal offense. As they stated, part of the criminal charges against other individuals have since been dropped.
According to the prosecution's document, the case relates to the period when Porfirije was the head of the Zagreb-Ljubljana Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Former Ljubljana parish priest Željko Lubarda claims that he suffered long-term and systematic mobbing because he did not want to remain silent about, as he claims, financial embezzlement in the church treasury.
"The most serious case of employee abuse in Slovenia"
"I was exposed to this abuse while I was employed as a priest at the Church Municipality in Ljubljana under an employment contract. The abuse I was exposed to has already been confirmed by the Court for Labor and Social Rights and by all parameters represents the most serious case of abuse of an employee in Slovenian judicial practice," Lubarda told Nova.rs.
As priest Lubarda said, the District State Prosecutor's Office filed the indictment in early January, and he was notified of it in early February.
Patriarch Porfirije, according to him, has already been questioned before the investigative court. Lubarda points out that, in addition to Porfirije, the Church Municipality of Ljubljana is also accused as a legal entity, "responsible for carrying out his persecutions."
"It is now up to the court to verify the legality of the indictment and schedule the start of the trial, which is expected in the coming months," Lubarda said.
What is written in the explanation of the prosecution
According to a report by the District State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana dated February 10, 2026, an indictment was filed before the competent court against two parties, Prvoslav Perić, namely Patriarch Porfirije, the then Metropolitan of the Zagreb-Ljubljana Metropolis of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Serbian Orthodox Church - Church Municipality of Ljubljana as a legal entity.
The part of the complaint against Porfiri that related to the criminal offenses of false testimony and obstruction of justice was dismissed and is not included in the indictment, Nova.rs reports.
The indictment refers to the criminal offense of harassment at work under Articles 196 and 197 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Slovenia. The Serbian Orthodox Church – Church Municipality of Ljubljana as a legal entity is also charged with the same offense, with the explanation that the offense was committed in its name and on its behalf by Porfirije, as its manager.
In the explanation of the prosecution, it is stated that Patriarch Porfirije, in his capacity as metropolitan, violated the rights of the employed priest Željko Lubarda, who was employed in the Church Municipality of Ljubljana in the period from 2014 to 2017. According to the prosecution, Perić ordered that Lubarda be served with the termination of the employment contract with the explanation that it was a business reason.
However, as stated in the prosecution's report, the reasons stated in the explanation of dismissal, such as failure to meet conditions, quality and trust, do not represent business reasons arising from the sphere of the employer.
"A revenge move"
According to the prosecution, the real reason for the dismissal was, as it is alleged, a revenge move because Lubarda opposed the order to transfer him to another parish. The prosecution's report states that his transfer to Novo Mesto in Slovenia was first planned, and then to Koprivnica in Croatia. Such a transfer, according to the prosecution, was not a consequence of the objective needs of the service, but of a subjective reason, Nova.rs reports.
The prosecution further states that since October 2014, Lubarda has been subjected to psychological violence, humiliation and unequal treatment, which has caused him to feel humiliated and afraid. The prosecution's explanation states that the reason for such treatment is the fact that Lubarda cooperated in the criminal proceedings against priest Bošković.
According to the prosecution, Porfirije criticized him for this and threatened to transfer him, which the prosecution report describes as an unjustified punishment.
The document also states that such conduct led to serious consequences for the injured party's health. According to the findings stated in the explanation, Lubarda developed an adjustment disorder with anxiety and depressive symptoms, which also led to a decrease in his working capacity.
Embezzlement of church money
As Nova writes, the mobbing of Lubarda, as determined by the Court for Labor and Social Rights, occurred after he, as the then head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Ljubljana, and on the orders of the then Metropolitan Jovan Pavlović, reported the suspicious business dealings of the former head of the temple, Peran Bošković, who has since been convicted of embezzlement of church money.
At the same time, Lubard, as he states, was pressured by Porfirije not to testify in the Bošković case, which he, as he points out, he refused.
"The intention was to use persecution to prevent my testimony in the criminal proceedings against a former priest from Ljubljana, since I categorically refused to bear false witness. For me, that testimony was not just a civic obligation, but fulfilling the fundamental principles of my St. Sava faith and protecting the Church. After that, all persecutions were aimed at brutally punishing me and my family, and were motivated solely by my overall role in exposing crime in the Serbian Orthodox Church," said Lubarda.
The Court for Labor and Social Disputes in Slovenia, as Nova,rs's interlocutor pointed out, previously determined in a final judgment that Lubarda was the victim of "one of the most serious cases of employee abuse in Slovenian practice," and the court documents list nearly 50 specific acts of mobbing. It was these findings that were the basis for the criminal complaint against Porfirije and the indictment.
Lubarda claims that due to the pressure, he lost his income and ended up homeless with his wife and four children, while due to his deteriorating health, he was recognized as disabled.
On the other hand, priest Peran Bošković was sentenced by a final verdict for embezzlement of church property to six months in prison, suspended for two years, and even after that conviction, he continued to perform his priestly duties in the Serbian Orthodox Church without being punished in a church court until his retirement.
Nova.rs also states that they contacted the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church with a request to receive a comment on the proceedings being conducted against the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but they did not receive answers to their questions by the time the text was published.
They also referred questions about the stage of the proceedings against Provslav Porfirije Perić to the Municipal Court in Ljubljana, to which they had previously been referred by the Slovenian prosecutor's office.
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