17
Article 26: When there be indications a serious crime has been committed, the Procurador
General de la Nación [National Attorney General] may give leave to film or to record
conversations and telephone calls of those linked to the offense, subject to what is established in
Article 29 of the Political Constitution.
Transcriptions of the recordings shall be registered in minutes wherein only the information
bearing a relation with the case under investigation shall appear, and which will be subscribed by
the public official in charge of the operation and by the supervisor thereof.
54.
Finally, the law “Whereby practice of the legal profession is governed”51
established the procedures for the cases where professional ethics were infringed.
2) Right to Privacy
55.
Article 11 of the Convention sets forth that no one may be the object of
arbitrary or abusive interference with his private life, including his family life, home,
and correspondence. The Court has held that the sphere of privacy is characterized
by being exempt from and immune to abusive and arbitrary invasion or attack by
third parties or by the public authorities.52 Though telephone conversations are not
expressly mentioned in Article 11 of the Convention, they are a type of
communication, which, like correspondence, is included within the personal sphere
protected by the right to privacy.53
56.
The right to privacy is not an absolute one, and, so, it may be restricted by
the States provided that their interference is not abusive or arbitrary; accordingly,
such restriction must be statutorily enacted, serve a legitimate purpose, and meet
the requirements of suitability, necessity, and proportionality which render it
necessary in a democratic society.
57.
Lastly, Article 11 of the Convention sets forth that everyone has the right to
have his honor respected and his dignity recognized and that no one may be the
object of illegal attacks on his honor or reputation and imposes on the States the
duty to afford protection against such attacks. In broad terms, the right to have
honor respected relates to self-esteem and self-worth, whereas reputation refers to
the opinion other persons have about someone.
2.) The right to a private life.
58.
The Commission alleged that “there is [n]o evidence on the record of any
orders issued by the Procurador General de la Nación [National Attorney General]
authorizing the wiretapping and recording of the telephone conversations of Mr.
Tristán Donoso.” “[T]he interference with and recording of the telephone
conversation of July 8, 1996 were made in violation of the domestic legislation of
Panamá in force on the matter.” Likewise, “neither Mr. Tristán Donoso nor Mr. Adel
51
Cf. Law No 9 of April 18, 1984, whereby the practice of the legal profession is governed. (Case
File on the Merits, Book II, folio 757).
52
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and
Costs. Judgment dated July 1, 2006, Series C No. 148, paras. 193 and 194.
53
Along such lines, cf. Eur. Court H.R., Case of Klass and others v. Germany, Judgment of 6
September 1978, para. 29; Case of Halford v. the United Kingdom, Judgment of 27 May 1997, para. 44;
Case of Amann v. Switzerland, Judgment of 16 February 2000, para. 44, and Copland v. the United
Kingdom, Judgment of 13 March 2007, para. 41.