Crime of disclosure of secrets

The Supreme Court (TS) has confirmed the conviction of a woman for a crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets (art. 197 CP) after she secretly recorded a private conversation between her ex-husband and their son, a conversation in which she did not participate . The events occurred during a stay at the beach in Denia, and the recording was made without the affected parties noticing. Later, the woman submitted that recording in a proceeding for gender violence to use it against her ex-husband. Everything was also included in a CD attached to the complaint.

The conviction came from behind, first issued by the criminal court, then confirmed by the Provincial Court of Alicante, and finally the woman appealed to the TS in cassation , alleging among other things statute of limitations , issues of admissibility/reporting, legal errors and that the criminal type had not been properly applied.

The TS rejects their arguments and leaves a clear idea, recording a third-party private conversation with the purpose of discovering or extracting intimate information is a crime , even if the recording does not contain "great secrets" or especially sensitive data; it is not necessary to demonstrate a "serious" or that the privacy has been effectively harmed for the crime to be considered consummated. It also dismisses the statute of limitations , validates the prosecution based on the report, and maintains the mitigating factor of undue delays only in its simple form (not qualified).

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