BIRN’s research has shown that since 2020, five criminal reports have been filed with the Police Directorate for the unauthorized publication of private recordings and photographs of other people, two of which involved sexually explicit content.
Ilica (not the interviewee’s real name) was 19 when her ex-boyfriend shared intimate photos of her with friends and family.
In this relationship, Milica suffered emotional abuse, jealousy, and insults. Instead of going to university, she stayed home to avoid conflict with her boyfriend. However, he became increasingly rude and accused her of wanting to be with someone else.
To prevent her aggression from escalating, Milica agreed to be photographed after having sex.
“He said in a frightening tone that I should smile in these photos. ‘I want it to be clear that I’m enjoying it, otherwise he won’t be able to be enthusiastic when he looks at them later,'” Milica told BIRN.
Milica agreed to be photographed out of fear of being physically harmed, but also because she didn’t know how to explain her injuries to her loved ones. When the man started harassing her, she decided to end the relationship.
“I remember coming home after telling him that, and he followed me down the street in his car and kept yelling at me. Then he stopped in front of me at the crosswalk, grabbed my arm, twisted it, and showed me these pictures on his phone.”
He quickly showed them to his friends, neighbors, and relatives, and the photos quickly became known in Milica’s hometown. Although her friends tried to convince the attacker to stop sharing the photos, he claimed it was “for her own good, and when everyone sees what she looks like, she’ll be happy that he finally married her.”
“Today, I carefully choose the streets I walk down because I’m afraid he’ll intercept me.” I’m also afraid of the people I know who saw the photos. I’m afraid of those I don’t know, whom I’ve seen, and perhaps meet every day. And I’m tormented by the question of how I could have been stupid enough to agree to have my picture taken. “I can’t forgive myself for that,” she says. The Montenegrin Police Directorate told BIRN that since 2020, five criminal charges have been filed against seven people suspected of unauthorized publication of other people’s private recordings and photographs, two of which involved sexually explicit content.
According to data provided to BIRN by the lower courts, no proceedings have been initiated for the criminal offense of unauthorized publication and display of documents, portraits, or recordings belonging to someone else in the past three years.
In Bijelo Polje, a private complaint was filed in 2022 for this criminal offense, but the court dismissed it as irregular. A case was filed before the Lower Court in Podgorica, which did not involve sexually explicit content.
Esma (the interviewee’s fictitious name) also lived in fear of her ex-partner for two years. When she decided to end her relationship with a man five years her senior, he began threatening her by posting intimate photos of them together.
“I was young and in love, so I readily agreed to intimate photoshoots.”
When I suggested to my then-boyfriend that we end our relationship, he said he would send the photos to my brother and father. “I grew up in a conservative family and couldn’t afford that,” Esma told BIRN.
“I didn’t want to embarrass them and agreed to continue our secret relationship.”
