Compensation for the unlawful search and seizure of data
Right to seek compensation
If you challenge the decisions taken and/or the activities carried out in the course of investigative and operational actions, the authorities will examine the lawfulness and proportionality of those measures. However, these actions might have also caused you material and moral harm and distress. If they have been performed in an unlawful manner, the harm done should be compensated. Your right to seek compensation due to a violation of your right to private life is stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia. Remember that you can request compensation for the material (financial) loss and/or the moral injury that you have suffered.
Compensation for unlawfully performed investigative action
If you want to receive compensation for an unlawfully performed investigative action within criminal proceedings, you can submit an application to a court of general jurisdiction (civil court). You should provide arguments as to which activities were unlawful and why or were applied in a disproportionate way, indicate the amount of the requested satisfaction, and add relevant documents that substantiate your opinion, if there are any. For example, a prosecutor’s decision in which the investigative actions performed against you were found to be unlawful, might be important evidence.
Compensation for unlawfully performed operational action
If you want to receive compensation for an unlawfully performed operational action, you can submit an application to a court of general jurisdiction (civil court). You should provide arguments as to which activities were unlawful and why or were applied in a disproportionate manner, indicate the amount of the requested satisfaction, and add relevant documents that substantiate your opinion, if there are any.
However, you may encounter obstacles in challenging the lawfulness of the operational actions applied and in seeking compensation. If you believe that the national law does not provide effective safeguards against potential abuses and misuses of your personal data and the ordering of compensation in case of operational actions, you may challenge ineffective legal regulation. Read how to challenge ineffective legal regulation.