A retired physical education professor has been convicted of extortion after anonymously distributing some 40 explicit photos of a Zagreb teacher. The court handed down a partially suspended sentence and a restraining order.
The Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court has issued a non-final verdict against 73-year-old retired physical education professor Ž. L., convicting him of attempted extortion of a teacher at a Zagreb elementary school and her husband. The verdict also covers the sending of some 40 erotic photos to five institutions, which turned the victim's life into years of agony.
The court handed down a partially suspended sentence of two years in prison. Of that, eight months must be served unconditionally, while the remaining 16 months are suspended with a probation period of four years. A security measure prohibiting him from approaching the victims for four years was also imposed, to take effect after he serves the full sentence. In addition, he must pay €1,000 in court costs, and due to a civil claim of €100,000 plus interest, he will also face the teacher in civil proceedings.
In early 2021, anonymous envelopes with no return address arrived at the Ministry of Science, the City Office for Education, the Office of the Ombudswoman for Children, the police, and the principal of the school where the teacher is employed. They contained her explicit color photos, accompanied by an anonymous report questioning her competence to work with children.
The defendant denied guilt during the trial. He admitted he had her photos but claimed they were ordinary photos she had sent him and that they were not forwarded from his phone. He called the disputed explicit photos sick. Although he admitted to addressing two envelopes and threatening to send nude photos, he denied actually sending them to the institutions.
The teacher's ordeal began well before the photos were sent. On Christmas Eve 2019, after she refused to pay him the money he demanded, the defendant physically attacked her on the street. He pulled her hair, hit her head, knocked her to the ground, and continued kicking her. During 2020, threatening messages followed in which he announced he would send the photos and destroy her.
According to the indictment, he first demanded 10,000 kuna from the teacher, then 30,000 kuna, while attempting to extort 5,000 kuna from her husband, all in exchange for not publishing the compromising photos. The prosecution initially filed charges for two counts of extortion and unauthorized use of personal data, but later dropped the latter charge, reasoning that the act was not criminal.
The court found that the defendant was sane at the time of the offense and acted with direct intent. His previous clean record and personal hurt by the victim's actions were considered mitigating circumstances. However, his age was not taken into account, as the court noted, "a person of his experience and teaching profession should have a more developed awareness of the harmfulness of threats and physical violence."
Aggravating circumstances included a greater criminal will demonstrated through two modalities of the criminal offense, involving force, serious threats, and numerous insults. Although extortion carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison, the court imposed a lighter sentence considering all the circumstances of the case.
