Üsküdar Criminal Cases - Violation of Privacy
Privacy is one of the fundamental personal rights protecting the sphere of life that an individual does not wish to make accessible or known to others. Today, the widespread use of smartphones, social media platforms, messaging applications, security cameras and digital recording technologies has also increased the number of criminal-law disputes concerning violations of privacy.
Observing a person's private sphere without their knowledge and consent, recording private images or sounds, or unlawfully disclosing images and sounds relating to private life may constitute a criminal offence under Turkish law depending on the circumstances.
Violation of privacy is regulated under Article 134 of Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237. Under the current provision, a person who violates another person's privacy is subject to imprisonment from one to three years. Where the violation is committed by recording images or sounds, the sentence is increased by one fold. Unlawful disclosure of images or sounds relating to a person's private life is separately punishable by imprisonment from two to five years.
Therefore, in matters involving violation of privacy, unauthorised image recording, secret audio recording, sharing private images, disclosure of private images on social media, hidden-camera recordings, Üsküdar criminal cases, Üsküdar criminal lawyer and Istanbul criminal lawyer, the manner in which the incident occurred, nature of the recording, existence of consent and whether images or sounds were disclosed to third parties must be assessed separately.
What Is the Offence of Violation of Privacy?
Violation of privacy is an offence that penalises unlawful interference with an individual's private sphere.
The protected sphere under Article 134 is not limited to activities taking place inside a person's home or another enclosed space. Areas of life that an individual does not wish others to observe, hear, learn about or record may fall within private life depending on the circumstances.
The boundaries of private life must therefore be determined separately in each case.
What Does Private Life Include?
Private life may include not only physical privacy but also certain aspects of a person's personal and social life that they wish to keep from others.
Family and relationship life, intimate images, conduct within private living spaces and certain aspects of personal relationships may fall within this scope.
However, the mere fact that information relates to an individual does not automatically mean that Article 134 applies. It must also be determined whether the matter falls within privacy or within other offences concerning personal data, confidentiality of communications or private conversations.
How Can Violation of Privacy Be Committed?
The offence may be committed through different forms of conduct.
Secretly observing an individual's private living space, monitoring a private event without the person's knowledge or recording images and sounds relating to private life without permission may constitute examples.
Court of Cassation case law has recognised that use of a camera or recording device is not necessarily required for the basic form of violation under the first sentence of Article 134/1. Secretly observing an event belonging to private life or secretly listening to sounds within the private sphere may also constitute a violation depending on the circumstances.
Is Secretly Taking a Photograph a Criminal Offence?
Not every photograph taken without permission automatically constitutes violation of privacy.
The location where the photograph was taken, the circumstances in which the person was depicted, whether the image concerns private life, the person's reasonable expectation of privacy and the purpose of the recording must be considered.
However, recording an image relating to a person's private sphere without their knowledge and consent may fall within Article 134.
A legal assessment therefore cannot be based solely on the fact that a photograph was taken without permission.
Is Secretly Recording a Video a Criminal Offence?
Recording images relating to a person's private life on video without their knowledge and consent may constitute the aggravated recording form of the offence under Article 134/1.
Under the provision, where privacy is violated by recording images or sounds, the applicable sentence is increased by one fold.
Using a hidden camera in a person's private living area or secretly recording a private moment with a phone may therefore have significant criminal-law consequences.
Does Using a Hidden Camera Violate Privacy?
The legal character of hidden-camera use depends on the camera's location, recording area, purpose and the reasonable expectation of privacy of the individuals being recorded.
Hidden cameras continuously recording a person's private living area without their knowledge may fall within Article 134.
Secret recordings in a home, bedroom, bathroom, changing area or similar location where a high degree of privacy is expected are particularly significant.
Can Secretly Recording a Spouse Constitute an Offence?
Marriage does not give either spouse an unlimited right to monitor or record the other's private life.
Spouses cannot be regarded as having completely lost their individual spheres of privacy.
Therefore, secretly recording intimate images of a spouse without their knowledge and consent may constitute violation of privacy depending on the circumstances.
Marriage alone does not provide legal justification.
Is Recording Private Images of a Partner or Former Partner a Criminal Offence?
Being in a romantic relationship does not mean that the other person has waived privacy.
Consent to sharing a private moment with a partner does not necessarily constitute consent to recording that moment as an image or sound.
The existence of a relationship therefore does not eliminate the need to determine whether separate consent to recording existed.
Secret Recording of Sexual or Intimate Images
Recording images relating to a person's sexual privacy without their knowledge and consent may constitute a serious interference with privacy.
Court of Cassation decisions have treated cases involving secret mobile-phone recordings of sexual intimacy within Article 134/1.
Depending on the victim's age or nature of the images, additional offences may also arise, meaning that legal classification may not be limited to Article 134.
Does Consent to Recording Prevent the Offence?
Valid consent is an important factor in the legal assessment.
However, the scope of consent must be determined.
Consent to having a photograph or video taken does not automatically mean consent to publishing it on social media, sending it to friends or showing it to other people.
Recording and disclosure must be assessed separately.
Can Sharing an Image That Was Originally Recorded with Consent Constitute an Offence?
Yes.
A person may consent to the recording but not to disclosure to third parties.
Article 134/2 separately criminalises unlawful disclosure of images or sounds relating to private life.
Therefore, the fact that the person originally sent the image or knew that it was being recorded does not by itself make subsequent disclosure lawful.
Is Sending Private Images to Another Person a Criminal Offence?
Unlawfully disclosing images or sounds relating to private life to other persons may fall within Article 134/2.
Disclosure does not necessarily require the material to reach thousands of people. Depending on the circumstances, making private material available to an unauthorised third person may also be legally relevant.
The method of disclosure and the persons who received the content should be separately examined.
Is Sharing Private Images Through WhatsApp an Offence?
Sending a private photograph or video through WhatsApp to another person or group may constitute unlawful disclosure.
The relevant factor is not merely the application used.
Whether the image belongs to the private sphere, whether the sender was authorised to disclose it and whether the person concerned consented to the disclosure must be assessed.
Sharing on Instagram, TikTok or Other Social Media Platforms
Publishing private images or sounds on a social media account may also create criminal liability under Article 134/2.
Whether the account was public or restricted, the number of persons who received the content and how long it remained online may be relevant to the evidentiary assessment.
The law also provides that the same penalty under Article 134/2 applies where private images or sounds are published through press or broadcasting.
Sharing Private Images for Revenge
Sharing intimate images of a former spouse or partner without consent after the end of a relationship may constitute violation of privacy depending on the nature of the material and circumstances.
Where the material is also used for threats or blackmail, the matter should not be assessed solely under Article 134; the elements of other offences may also need to be examined.
Can Showing a Private Image to Only One Person Constitute Disclosure?
The key issue in disclosure is whether material belonging to the private sphere has been made known to a person who was not entitled to access it.
Therefore, depending on the circumstances, showing or sending the image to a single third person may also be legally relevant.
Disclosure does not necessarily have to take the form of a public social media post.
Does Taking a Photograph in a Public Place Violate Privacy?
Being in a public place does not mean that a person waives all privacy rights.
At the same time, not every recording made in a public location automatically constitutes an offence under Article 134.
The environment, nature of the image, manner of recording, whether the person was being followed and the person's reasonable expectation of privacy must be considered together.
Court of Cassation decisions show that even photographs taken on a street may, depending on the particular circumstances, raise issues under privacy law.
Are Violation of Privacy and Violation of Confidentiality of Communications the Same Offence?
No.
In addition to privacy, the Turkish Criminal Code separately protects confidentiality of communications and non-public conversations between persons.
Intercepting a telephone conversation or messages and recording images from a person's private life may therefore be subject to different legal classifications.
Determining the applicable offence is particularly important in cases involving digital material.
Does Every Secret Audio Recording Fall Under Article 134?
No.
The content of the recording and the environment in which it was made are relevant.
The provisions concerning recording of non-public conversations and Article 134 concerning sounds relating to private life have different fields of application.
The Turkish Criminal Code also separately regulates unlawful disclosure of data obtained through recording non-public conversations.
What Is the Difference Between Violation of Privacy and Unlawful Recording of Personal Data?
Personal data and private life are related but distinct concepts.
Information that identifies or makes an individual identifiable may constitute personal data. However, not every piece of personal data concerns the intimate sphere of private life.
Where photographs, videos, addresses, telephone numbers or other information are unlawfully obtained, the applicable offence must therefore be determined according to the nature of the data and manner of the conduct.
Can Taking a Screenshot Violate Privacy?
The legal nature of taking a screenshot of a message, photograph or digital content depends on the content and relationship between the parties.
Not every screenshot automatically constitutes an offence under Article 134.
However, where content belonging to the private sphere is unlawfully recorded or disclosed to third parties, offences concerning privacy, confidentiality of communications or personal data may arise.
Can a Secret Recording Be Made to Collect Evidence?
Simply stating that a recording was made to obtain evidence does not automatically make every secret recording lawful.
The method by which evidence is obtained is also relevant in criminal proceedings. The circumstances, availability of alternative evidence, whether the incident developed unexpectedly and the scope of the interference may be relevant to judicial assessment.
Systematic secret recording in divorce, employment, corporate or criminal disputes should therefore not automatically be assumed to be lawful.
Who Can Commit Violation of Privacy?
As a rule, the offence may be committed by any person.
The fact that the offender is the victim's spouse, partner, former partner, friend, neighbour or relative does not by itself prevent the offence from arising.
In certain circumstances, characteristics such as acting as a public official or using advantages provided by a profession may create additional criminal-law consequences.
Who Can Be the Victim?
A natural person whose privacy has been unlawfully violated may be the victim.
Because privacy is a personal legal interest, the assessment focuses on the private sphere of the individual affected.
Where private images of children are involved, additional criminal provisions may apply depending on the nature of the images.
Is Violation of Privacy an Intentional Offence?
For liability under Article 134, it is important that the offender knowingly and intentionally performs the conduct violating privacy.
Whether the person knew that recording was taking place, how the device was used, whether disclosure was deliberate and other circumstances may be considered when assessing intent.
What Is the Penalty for Violation of Privacy?
Under the current text of Article 134/1, violation of another person's privacy is punishable by imprisonment from one to three years.
Where privacy is violated through recording images or sounds, the sentence is increased by one fold.
Under Article 134/2, unlawful disclosure of images or sounds relating to private life is punishable by imprisonment from two to five years.
Can Recording and Subsequent Disclosure Be Assessed Separately?
Yes.
Violation of privacy through recording and subsequent unlawful disclosure of the resulting images or sounds are separate forms of conduct.
Court of Cassation case law has also recognised that where private conversations are recorded and subsequently provided to a third party, recording and disclosure may require separate assessment under different paragraphs of Article 134.
Therefore, where the person who secretly recorded the material later shares it, the case should not automatically be treated as involving only a single act.
Can the Offence Be Committed as a Successive Offence?
Where several violations or recordings are committed against the same person at different times, the applicability of successive-offence provisions may need to be assessed according to the circumstances.
Court of Cassation decisions include examples in which successive-offence rules were considered in relation to recordings made on different dates.
The date, victim, legal nature and circumstances of each act should therefore be examined together.
Is Violation of Privacy Subject to Complaint?
Under Article 139 of the Turkish Criminal Code, offences within the relevant chapter are generally subject to complaint, except for the offences of recording personal data, unlawfully giving or obtaining data and failure to destroy data. Violation of privacy under Article 134 is therefore subject to complaint.
Court of Cassation practice likewise requires the complaint condition to be examined in proceedings under Article 134/1.
What Is the Complaint Period?
For complaint-based offences, Article 73 of the Turkish Criminal Code generally provides a six-month period beginning when the victim learns both of the act and the offender.
In privacy cases, it is therefore important to establish when the victim became aware of the conduct and the offender. In one decision involving secretly recorded images, the Court of Cassation held that the date on which the victim learned of the recordings and whether the complaint was filed within the six-month period had to be examined.
What Is the Effect of Withdrawal of a Complaint?
Withdrawal of a complaint in a complaint-based offence may have consequences for criminal proceedings.
However, the timing of withdrawal, circumstances in which the accused's acceptance may be relevant and existence of other offences arising from the same incident should be separately examined.
Where the same conduct also constitutes another offence prosecuted ex officio, withdrawal regarding Article 134 does not necessarily terminate the entire criminal investigation.
What Evidence May Be Used?
Digital evidence frequently plays a major role in privacy cases.
Mobile phones, computers, cloud accounts, social media accounts, messaging records, transmission histories, screenshots, URLs, publication records, witness statements and expert examinations may be relevant depending on the circumstances.
Digital examinations may be used to investigate which device created the image, when it was recorded and to whom it was sent.
Can Deleted Photographs and Videos Be Evidence?
Deletion of a photograph or video from a device does not necessarily mean that every technical trace has disappeared.
Depending on technical circumstances, forensic examinations may recover information relating to certain deleted data.
Court of Cassation decisions include cases where images recovered after deletion during examination of a phone were considered in the proceedings.
How Can a Social Media Disclosure Be Proven?
Screenshots, account details, publication dates, URLs, message records and statements of persons who viewed the post may be relevant.
However, a screenshot alone may not always conclusively prove who published the material.
Ownership of the account, whether the post was actually made by the alleged person and integrity of the digital evidence may require further investigation.
How Is the Offender Identified When Material Is Shared Through a Fake Account?
Where private images are disclosed through a fake or anonymous social media account, identifying the offender may require digital investigation.
Technical data associated with the account, device examinations, connection records and other digital evidence may be examined depending on the circumstances.
However, hostility between parties alone may not conclusively establish that a particular person operated the anonymous account.
Which Court Has Jurisdiction Over the Offence?
Considering the penalties prescribed under Article 134 and the applicable criminal procedure rules, cases concerning violation of privacy are generally heard by the Criminal Court of First Instance.
Where another offence carrying a more severe penalty is involved in the same incident, the competent court may need to be determined by considering the case as a whole.
Where Is a Violation of Privacy Case Heard in Üsküdar?
Territorial jurisdiction in criminal proceedings is generally determined according to the place where the offence was committed.
For disclosures occurring digitally, the location where the content was uploaded and other criminal-procedure rules concerning territorial jurisdiction may require assessment.
Where the offence is committed in Üsküdar, the competent judicial authorities are determined accordingly.
Can the Victim Request Removal of Private Images from the Internet?
A criminal investigation alone may not necessarily prevent private material from continuing to circulate online.
Depending on the nature of the content, remedies concerning protection of personality rights and online content may need to be considered alongside the criminal investigation.
Preventing further circulation and obtaining criminal accountability should therefore be treated as separate legal objectives.
Can Compensation for Non-Pecuniary Damage Be Claimed?
Unlawful interference with privacy may create consequences beyond criminal liability.
Where the legal conditions are satisfied, a person whose personality rights have been violated may seek non-pecuniary compensation and other forms of civil-law protection.
Criminal proceedings and compensation claims are governed by different procedural and substantive rules.
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Correct legal classification is particularly important in privacy cases.
The existence of a photograph, video, audio recording or message alone may not be sufficient for Article 134 to apply. Whether the content belongs to the private sphere, how it was obtained, whether consent existed at the time of recording, whether it was subsequently disclosed and whether the conduct constitutes another offence should all be examined separately.
For victims, timely preservation of digital evidence, compliance with the complaint period and assessment of legal measures to prevent further dissemination are important.
For suspects and defendants, the nature of the recording, consent, manner in which the content was obtained, whether the allegation of disclosure is supported by technical evidence, ownership of the account or device and proper legal classification may be central to the defence.
Therefore, matters concerning Üsküdar criminal cases, Üsküdar criminal lawyer, violation of privacy, Article 134 of the Turkish Criminal Code, unauthorised image recording, secret video recording, sharing private images, disclosure of private images through social media and Istanbul criminal lawyer should be assessed according to the evidence and particular circumstances of each case.
Conclusion
Violation of privacy is one of the principal criminal-law protections for an individual's private sphere.
Under Article 134, violation of privacy is punishable by imprisonment from one to three years, with the sentence increased by one fold where the violation is committed by recording images or sounds. Unlawful disclosure of images or sounds relating to private life is punishable by imprisonment from two to five years.
Consent to having an image recorded does not automatically constitute consent to sending that image to others or publishing it on social media. Recording and disclosure must be assessed separately.
Furthermore, not every photograph, video or audio recording falls within Article 134. Depending on the circumstances, offences involving confidentiality of communications, recording of private conversations, personal data or other provisions of criminal law may apply.
For this reason, in matters involving violation of privacy, unauthorised image or audio recording, disclosure of private images, social media disclosure, Üsküdar criminal cases and Üsküdar criminal lawyer, the nature of the image or sound, circumstances of recording, consent, method of disclosure, digital evidence and complaint process should be considered together.