Former Research Centre Pupils in Serbia Accuse Staffer of Sexual Abuse

Five women, former students at the Petnica Science Centre, near Valjevo, western Serbia, have claimed an employee subjected them to sexual harassment, the weekly magazine Vreme reported on Thursday.

According to Vreme, an unnamed male was in charge of reviewing their papers at the centre's Summer Science School. He was not in a position to decide whether the papers would be published or not, which the participants did not know.

Vreme reported that "he threatened the students that their works would not come out if they did not obey his will".

The five women, who did not reveal their identities, said the man then took pictures of them naked against their will.

"You are locked up with him in the room where he lives, he is at the computer and reviews your work, he is alternately extremely kind and praises you - and then suddenly he starts insulting you and saying how stupid you are," one of the women told Vreme.

"Then he suggests a pause during which he takes out a camera. If you show resistance and don't want to be photographed, he threatens not to publish your work," she added.

The first such case reported by Vreme happened in 2003 and, according to the magazine, over 20 women had similar experiences.

The Petnica Science Center is an independent not-profit organisation, established in 1982, and mostly intended to serve gifted high-school students, aged 15 to 19.

They come to Petnica to attend various seminars during the year. The Science Centre also organises summer science schools for final-grade primary pupils. It is widely known in Serbia.

Former director of Petnica Vigor Majic said he first heard about participants being photographed in 2014 but was ...