Brno - People have a right to mourn the loss of their close relatives. If this right is violated, the mourners may ask for apology and possibly compensation.
By its ruling the Supreme Court. has set a precedent. This means that more people may want to use the privacy protection law since now on.
The right for protection of privacy is granted not only to the surviving relatives, but in some cases to the departed, too. "If the deceased person is treated with disrespect, it is possible to demand protection of this person," the Supreme Court ruled.
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The court ruled upheld a complaint filed by a mother who felt her right for protection of privacy was violated when she was denied access to an apartment of her deceased son by a housing authority. The apartment was vacated by the authority´s employees, to which the mother strongly objected.
"I was not allowed to decide myself which of my son's belongings I would keep and which I would throw away," the woman explained in her complaint.
Increased trauma
The regional court ruled in favor of the woman, ordering the housing authority to apologize and pay CZK 20,000 compensation.
"The mother learnt in a traumatizing way about the fate of the things her son owned during his lifetime, which increased her psychicological suffering from the loss of her son. Her right for privacy, for family bonding and commemorating the deceased was violated," the judge informed.
