Azerbaijan court says corridor cameras may breach privacy

Surveillance cameras in apartment buildings that record shared corridors or neighbours’ entrances may amount to interference with private life, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court said. 

The case reviewed by the court concerned a dispute between neighbours living on the same floor and in the same entrance of an apartment building. The dispute centred on whether cameras installed in a shared corridor and near one apartment’s entrance violated a neighbour’s right to privacy.

The Supreme Court said individuals may install surveillance cameras to protect their apartment and property. However, the exercise of that right must not result in unlawful interference with the private life of others.

The court said private life was not limited to events inside an apartment. Information about when a person enters or leaves home, who visits them, their daily routine and the continuous recording of their image may also fall within the scope of private life.

According to the court’s legal position, a camera covering a shared corridor or entrances to other apartments may be installed only with the consent of neighbours who use that corridor.

If such consent is not obtained, the camera’s viewing angle must be limited to the entrance of the apartment of the person who installed it.

In the case, the Supreme Court ordered that one camera’s viewing angle be restricted to the apartment entrance and that another camera recording the shared corridor and neighbouring apartments be removed.

The court also upheld the finding that the neighbour’s right to private life had been violated and that compensation for moral damage was lawful.

N.Tebrizli