Father is forcing me to break up with my boyfriend

Ines Bojić

Ines Bojić

mag.iur.

Hello,

I am 16 and a half, I have been in a relationship for two months with a boyfriend who will turn 21 in the middle of February. My parents are divorced and I live with my father. My father is forcing me to break up with my boyfriend otherwise I will end up in a juvenile correctional facility and he will be sued for raping me because he did not ask him for permission to have intercourse with me, regardless the fact I agreed to everything myself. I wonder if my father can so easily put me in a juvenile correctional facility for no reason and sue my boyfriend if I myself agreed to have intercourse with him. What are the laws, considering I am 16 and a half and he is going to turn 21?

Hello, 

regarding your inquiry we state the following: 

According to Article 153 of the Criminal Code, the criminal offense of rape exists if someone, using force or threat, with another person, without his / her consent, commits sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act, for which a prison sentence of one to ten years is provided. 

Please note that the consent of another person is considered to exist if he or she voluntarily decided to have sexual intercourse or a sexual act equated with it and was able to make such a decision. 

As you have voluntarily consented to sexual intercourse, and you are able to give the said consent, given your age, it is clear that in your case there are no elements of the criminal offense of rape and your partner cannot be punished for the same. 

Article 158 of the Criminal Code stipulates the age of fifteen as the age limit for voluntary consenting to sexual intercourse. 

Furthermore, Article 159 of the Criminal Code regulates the criminal offense of sexual abuse of a child over 15 years of age, which exists if a person entrusted with care, teaching or custody of a child commits sexual intercourse with a child who has reached 15 years of age. However, these are situations of sexual exploitation of a child over the age of 15 by persons who should take care of the child, such as family members, and since this is not the case with you, there are no conditions for criminal prosecution. 

Finally, you do not have to be afraid that your father will put you in a “juvenile correctional facility” since your behaviour is not illegal, and therefore not punishable, especially considering that your father cannot decide on it arbitrarily, such actions require certain procedures and decision by the competent institutions.