THE CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLATIONS OF PRIVACY RIGHTS WITHIN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

The study offers a systematic analysis of the consequences that violations of privacy rights produce within criminal proceedings. The starting point is the distinction that the European Court of Human Rights has consistently maintained between the substantive right guaranteed by Article 8 and the procedural right guaranteed by Article 6 of the Convention, according to which an unlawful interference does not, in itself, entail the automatic exclusion of evidence. Against this background, the research identifies and critically assesses the entire spectrum of consequences enshrined in Moldovan law: inadmissibility of evidence, its extension to derivative evidence, nullity of the procedural act, exclusion by the prosecutor, the possibility of subsequently using the evidence against the abusing agent, and the reparatory consequence at the European level. Drawing on the relevant case-law of the Strasbourg Court, namely Schenk, Khan, Bykov, Iordachi and Mancevschi, as well as of the Moldovan and Romanian constitutional courts, the study shows that, although the system has a rich formal arsenal, its effectiveness remains conditioned upon rigorous application, in the absence of which the right to privacy risks remaining devoid of real procedural consequences.