Monk convicted in paedophilia case

Monk convicted in paedophilia case

Mišić, also known by his spiritual name of Ilarion, was initially found guilty of charges of sexual abuse of minors in October 2006, receiving a 10-month jail sentence. The attorneys for the plaintiffs filed an appeal against the verdict, which the court accepted, subsequently handing Mišić a sentence of one year in prison.

Mišić was initially interviewed by a Novi Sad municipal court investigating judge in 2001, on suspicion of having had sexually abused underaged boys.

The proposed indictment against him cited the names of ten boys aged seven to 11, Mišić’s victims in the Fruška Gora monastery.

After he was released from detention, however, Mišić left Hopovo taking with his some of the monastery’s assets, including two church bells, and was later tracked down in the St. Trinity monastery near Pljevlja, Montenegro.

After that, the Serbian Orthodox Church temporarily put him in charge of the Orahovica monastery in Papuk, Croatia. The Croatian authorities, however, extradited him after several local students reported seeing the monk masturbate near the local elementary school.