How to complain in a case where you believe that your privacy has been violated?
There are several remedies available to you if you believe that your right to private life has been violated. Depending on the type and severity of intrusion into your privacy, you can choose to:
- sue the author or publisher of the information in civil court
- go to the police to initiate criminal proceedings
If you believe that information about your private life has been made public for no good reason, you can bring a civil claim against the disseminator of this information. In civil court you can ask for monetary compensation. You can take into account both material (for example loss of income) and moral damages. In your application to the court you should explain:
- which facts or information about your private life were made public
- How and when they were made public, such as the date, time, the publication and media
- why this violates your rights
- whether you are seeking compensation
- and justify why you are asking for that compensation specifically, for example, the particular sum of money
You can request the police to initiate criminal proceedings about a violation of your privacy in two cases:
- where your correspondence has been intentionally made public
- where your personal data have been used illegally and this has caused you substantial harm
Appeal
If the police reject your request to initiate criminal proceedings and you consider that the decision taken by the police is not well-founded, you may appeal it to the supervising prosecutor in your case. You must submit the appeal within 10 days of the date when you received the decision. The procedure and time-limits for the appeal must be indicated in the decision.
Additional civil claim
If the police initiate a criminal case and indict the accused, you may claim compensation from the accused during the criminal proceedings.