Court rules first sexual harassment conviction

A Croatian court has handed down the country´s first sexual harassment convictions against two male supermarket workers.

ZAGREB, March 3, 2010 (AFP) - A Croatian court has handed down the country's first sexual harassment convictions against two male supermarket workers for sexual misconduct and making lewd comments, a court spokesman said Wednesday.

Aleksandar Knezevic, a former manager of the Interspar store, was jailed for six months for making sexual comments over a three year period, while a maintenance worker in the store was given a four month suspended term for groping another female employee, spokesman Hrvoje Viskovic said

Local media reported that two women at the store in the coastal town of Zadar had reported harassment on several occasions to the company but only maintenance worker, Sime Strika, got a written warning.

Karlo Suric, a lawyer for one of the women, said the ruling had a "wider importance for society" as it could push the government to adopt specific laws on harassment in the work place.

The ruling was also hailed by trade unions. "This verdict is extremely important for Croatia's judiciary and all future cases of harassment at work," union legal representative Vedran Uranija told local media.

"The penal code should be amended to include the criminal act of sexual harassment and harassment at work in line with European standards and notably a separate law on bullying should be also adopted," he said.