EL DERECHO A LA IMAGEN COMO BIEN PENAL

Abstract

The right to one’s image is a fundamental right as recognised by article 18.1 of the Spanish Constitution, and is autonomous with respect to privacy. This is recognized in civil and criminal law, and is also accepted as such in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the ECHR. The Spanish penal code introduced the legal protection of this right in 1995, including it under the crimes against privacy of article 197. From a penal perspective, it concerns the protection, within a context of privacy, of any recognisable representation of the human figure, punishing its surreptitious acquisition by a third party.