The
statement of the Human Rights Defender on the publication by law enforcement
agencies of personal data of persons suspected of committing alleged crimes.
As a result of the monitoring carried out by
the Human Rights Defender's office, it was recorded that in individual
publications made by law enforcement agencies, the identification data of
persons suspected of committing alleged crimes is directly indicated: such as
the data of their user accounts on social networks, their name, surname, and
other personal data, and in some cases, also the photographs of the
individuals.
In
this regard, the Defender emphasizes that the publication of data identifying a
person involved in criminal proceedings by law enforcement agencies must comply
with the relevant international and national standards. Otherwise, the state
may violate the fundamental right to respect for private life. In that context,
it is of key importance that the publication of data about the mentioned
persons can be carried out only in the presence of a legitimate purpose, if it
stems from a social need that prevails over the interest of privacy of personal
data, and such publication must be proportionate to the pursued purpose.
Moreover, such publications should be limited to the scope of the data as much
as possible, and must be published only in case of dire need due to the specifics
of the specific criminal proceedings. This is also required by the precedent of
the European Court of Human Rights.
As
for the publication of photographs, according to the precedent of the ECHR, in
cases where the publication of the photograph has no informative value within
the framework of criminal proceedings, particularly substantial reasons are
needed to consider such an interference with the right to respect for private
life as legitimate.
European
Court consideres as a valid reason for example, the publication of the data of
the fugitive accused in order to ensure his identification by the public.
Considering
the above-mentioned, the Defender calls on the competent state bodies to take
into account the presented criteria, when making similar publications, in order
to exclude possible violations of the right to respect for private life.
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