Ex-West Ham defender Tomas Repka: Publishing photos from the surveillance captured him working in a bakery was illegal

Ex-West Ham defender Tomas Repka sued the tabloid „Pestrý svět“ about the legitimacy of his surveillance and dissemination of photographs from his work in the bakery during his prison sentence.

 So far, the first-instance decision of the District Court for Prague 5 of November 8, 2021 has clearly confirmed that it is not possible to take photos of someone, especially in situations where he cannot defend himself – such as when he is executing his sentence and is employed! The photographs were taken without his consent and knowledge, without the knowledge of the Prison Service and without the knowledge of his employer.

In August 2019, the tabloid „Pestrý svět“ published an article entitled “Secret photo from prison“, with a title on the cover of this magazine with the description “Unique photo report from prison”. Published photos from the surveillance captured him working in a bakery at the time of serving his sentence. These photographs were taken and published without any public interest, only because of Mr. Řepka’s humiliation. This publication is contrary to the settled case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Řepka has so far obtained an apology and compensation for non-pecuniary damage, together with compensation for the costs of the proceedings ( without effectiveness yet).   

The surveillance, taking and publishing of photographs does not pass the test of proportionality as regards to the contribution to the debate in the public interest and the circumstances in which they were taken. The photographs were not necessary to ensure the credibility of the information that Mr Řepka was working for a bakery as part of his sentence. He had no way of defending himself from photographing or avoiding it. The European court for human rights has consistently assumed that private life can take place in both public and publicly accessible places, where also exist a reasonable expectation that privacy will be maintained, this include  undoubtedly the place of employment, according to the decisions of the Constitutional Court.  

The surveillance was continuous, for several days, all day long, as follows from the text of the captions to the photographs and the article. „Pestrý svět“ did not even remove the license plate of the car with which Mr. Řepka was transported as a prisoner. Therefore they endangered his safety, as well as other fellow prisoners and the employer.

The interference with his rights was not proportionate to the purpose of the boulevard and did not comply with the criteria of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, but also by the defendant violating various legal regulations – Civil Code, Labor Code, Personal Data Processing Act and European Prison Rules, European Convention on Human Rights