Romania - December 2024

The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) found that Romania’s legal framework failed to protect a woman from online harassment when her ex-partner published intimate pictures online without her consent in 2016. The ECHR also ruled that the criminal investigation by Romanian authorities into the allegations had been ineffective, and failed to protect her from potential further abuse and to secure required evidence. In 2018, the woman complained to the Prosecutor’s Office that a police officer had sought to persuade her to withdraw her complaint. Romanian authorities argued that the relevant provision of the Criminal Code on the invasion of privacy could not be applied as she had sent the photographs to her partner willingly. The ECHR ruled that there had been a violation of the woman’s right to respect for private and family life, and issued a small fine. In 2023, legislation entered into force in Romania to protect victims of “revenge pornography.”

Sources: European Court of Human Rights, Balkan Insight, ProTV