Penalties for Criminal Offenses Committed in Cyberspace as a Restriction on Human Rights

The article titled “Penalties Applicable to Criminal Offenses Committed in Cyberspace as a Limitation on Human Rights,” written by Assistant Professor Dorel Herinean, Ph.D., of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest, was published in A.U.B.D. – Legal Forum No. 2/2026.
Any sanction imposed on a person inherently entails a limitation of that person’s rights and freedoms. The sanctions provided for by law and applied in judicial practice must be tailored both to the offense and to the individual. From this perspective, certain categories of offenses share common elements that influence the sanctions, and this article aims to examine these elements in the context of cybercrimes in the broad sense.
The article analyzes the sanctions provided for under Romanian criminal law and, in particular, the effects these may have in cyberspace, while also examining the limits and examples of best practices analyzed in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and reviewing several examples from other jurisdictions.
The article also addresses the effectiveness of traditional sanctions in cases of crimes committed exclusively in the digital environment and the need to adapt current legislation so that penalties can truly achieve their preventive purpose.

Official documents sometimes form the basis of rights acquired by parties abroad, which may mean that, in order to enforce those rights in Romania, they must be presented to the Romanian authorities.
Given this reality, this study has two objectives. First, it analyzes the legal mechanisms established at the national and international levels for certifying, in the forum state, the official nature of documents drawn up in another country and, at the same time, for overcoming the obstacle that the principle of national sovereignty might pose to the recognition of the effects arising from such official status. Second, the article examines the scope of the effects that foreign official documents produce in Romania, specifically the probative value they hold with respect to the legal situation they reflect.