Slovenia tightens penalties for child grooming for sexual purposes

Slovenia has made a step toward a more effective prosecution of child grooming as the National Assembly increased the sentence for solicitation of minors under the age of 15 for sexual purposes, whereby it also criminalised the attempt to commit this crime.

In a rare show of cross-partisan unity, the legislature voted unanimously last week to amend Article 173a of the Criminal Code by raising the sentence for solicitation from up to one year to between one and three years in prison, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Since the sentence so far had been lesser than three years, the attempt of the crime concerned was not punishable under general terms of the Criminal Code. By raising the maximum sentence an attempt at solicitation became a criminal offence as well.

Originally, Article 173a prescribed a prison sentence for whoever, through information or communication technologies, solicits a person under the age of fifteen to meet with the intention of committing a criminal offence against or for the purpose of producing images, audiovisual material, or other items of a pornographic or otherwise sexual nature, but only when such solicitation was followed by concrete actions to arrange a meeting. Now, grooming of children for sexual purposes is a criminal offence.

Case of grooming mayor

The amendments had been prompted by the case of the former mayor of Dornava, a small municipality in northeastern Slovenia, who groomed a teenager he thought was 14 for sex, but the prosecution dismissed a criminal complaint against him because the boy in question was in fact 16.

Matej Zorko resigned as Dornava mayor in February after it transpired that he had contacted a person who introduced himself as a 14-year-old over the dating app Grindr and groomed him to meet him for the purpose of sexual intercourse or other sexual acts.

He brought a mat, a bottle of whiskey and lubricant to the agreed location of their meeting, where he was ambushed and attacked by the teenager and his friends, who also took away the man's phone.

However, while pointing out that the suspect's intent was evident and describing his actions as reprehensible, prosecutor Metka Zupanc explained that he did not commit a crime under the valid legislation.

The prosecution at the time suggested changes to make the attempted solicitation punishable and changes were also urged by the NGO Institute 8 March. They were tabled under the previous government but got delayed over a technicality concerning another bill.

Unanimous support for changes

Sponsored by the Freedom Movement, which is now in opposition, the amendments have now got the backing of the ruling majority and, after a tweak also of the new government. The original proposal was to increase the penalty from up to one year to up to three years, but this was amended to a minimum of one and maximum of three years.

Gašper Dovžan, a state secretary at the Justice Ministry, said determining the minimum sentence could act as a deterrent and contribute to better protection of children, so the proposal was now acceptable to the government.

In discussions before endorsing the amendments on 24 September, coalition and opposition MPs agreed that grooming and soliciting minors for sexual purposes must be punished more severely, including attempts to commit those acts.

Speaking for the largest ruling coalition partner, the Democratic Party (SDS), MP Zoran Mojškerc pointed out that technological advances have made sexual grooming of children easier. He said the current changes were just the first step that needed to be followed up with an overhaul of the whole system.

The previous justice minister, Andreja Katič, who now serves as an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), emphasized the importance of the law enabling an early enough response to prevent child sexual abuse rather than acting after it has already happened or steps in that direction had been taken.

Increase in online sexual offences

But some MPs believe that even the increased maximum sentence is too lenient. "We have the same sentence for theft," Sandra Gazinkovski of the Freedom Movement said, adding: "I think that material damage is not the same as psychological torture."

Police records show that the number of online sexual offences against children has more than doubled over the past ten years, from almost 70 handled in 2015 to 204 handled in in 2025 and as many as 247 in 2024.

The police explain that the most common forms of online child sexual abuse involve soliciting and grooming of children for sexual acts and trying to get them to take naked photos of themselves. This typically occurs via social media and other virtual environments.

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