Khaberni - The Turkish Court of Cassation sentenced a photographer in the city of Elazığ to imprisonment for a year and eight months after he displayed a wedding photo of a couple inside his shop as work samples, without obtaining their permission.
The incident began when a couple hired a photographer to document their wedding moments. Later, they discovered that their photos were used without their knowledge in an album displayed to other customers as "work samples," prompting them to file a complaint with the public prosecutor.
The public prosecutor in Elazığ started an investigation and filed charges against the photographer for "violating privacy," according to the Turkish site "haberler."
In front of the fifth misdemeanor court, the accused stated that he was unaware that his actions constituted a crime and sought acquittal. Indeed, the court acquitted him, considering that wedding photos are not content "whose owners would not want others to see."
The couple was not satisfied with the ruling, and the file was referred to the Court of Cassation. There, the decision was completely opposite; the court affirmed that wedding photos are personal data, and displaying them to other customers without the owners' permission constitutes the crime of "delivering or obtaining data unlawfully." Consequently, the acquittal was overturned.
After a retrial, the fifth misdemeanor court sentenced the photographer to one year and 8 months in prison, noting in its decision that he had displayed personal photos without the owners' consent.
Subsequently, the accused appealed the ruling again, sending the file back to the 12th Criminal Division in Yargıtay, which issued its final unanimous decision, confirming that the trial procedures were correct and that the sentence of imprisonment was legally sound, thus making the judgment final and conclusive.
