Susan Nash relates tales of intrigue & subterfuge across the EU
The applicant in Kvasnica v Slovakia (application no 72094/01) is a practising member of the Slovak Bar Association who represented a group of companies under investigation for large scale organised criminal activities. His complaint related to the interception of his professional telephone communications.
Having obtained judicial authorisation, police investigators intercepted his mobile phone. Subsequently, he discovered that records of his conversations had been leaked to interested groups, including politicians and journalists. Further, conversations with colleagues, clients, and friends were freely available on the internet.
Although Mr Kvasnica brought the mishandling of these recordings to the attention of national authorities, his complaints were rejected without an examination of the facts.
Finding for the applicant, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that the procedure for supervising interception of phone calls failed to comply with the requirements of national law, and had not been put into practice so as to keep interference with his private life to a minimum. Accordingly, there had been a violation of Art 8 (right to private life).
