Legal summary
November 2023
Fico v. Slovakia (communicated case) - 21662/23
Article 6
Civil proceedings
Article 6-1
Fair hearing
Adversarial trial
Equality of arms
Use of covert audiovisual recording devices to monitor prominent politician’s private meetings in context of criminal investigation: communicated
Article 8
Article 8-1
Respect for private life
Use of covert audiovisual recording devices to monitor prominent politician’s private meetings in context of criminal investigation: communicated
Article 13
Effective remedy
Use of covert audiovisual recording devices to monitor prominent politician’s private meetings in context of criminal investigation: communicated
Article 18
Restrictions for unauthorised purposes
Use of covert audiovisual recording devices to monitor prominent politician’s private meetings in context of criminal investigation: communicated
The applicant is the leader of the SMER - sociálna demokracia party and is currently Prime Minister of Slovakia. At the relevant time, he was a member of the opposition in Parliament.
In January 2021 the national organised crime investigation agency began an investigation in respect of one or more unknown persons on suspicion of an aggravated form of poaching. In the course of the investigation, the District Court issued a warrant authorising the use of covert audiovisual recording devices on the exterior of a lodge situated in the hunting area concerned. Subsequently a further warrant was issued permitting the use of such devices also on the interior of the lodge in relation to a suspicion of laundering of the proceeds of criminal activity in conjunction with the offence of poaching.
It seems that any recordings obtained from the exterior of the lodge were destroyed on the grounds that they had contained nothing of use in respect of the investigation. However, audiovisual footage from inside the lodge was published in the media, depicting a series of meetings between the applicant, his political ally, practicing lawyers and other persons, discussing political, legal and private matters.
In response, a review was carried out by the Public Prosecution Service which resulted in the quashing of the initial decision to issue a warrant. It was found the charge of poaching was incongruous, not susceptible to review and lacked support in any previously obtained material. Moreover, the investigator had failed to take crucial pieces of oral evidence and the taken gave no grounds for suspicion at all. In any event, it had been an inherent error of law to consider the charge in its aggravated form, with the basic offence not permitting the use of covert recording devices under the Criminal Code. In addition, as there had in fact been no suspicion of poaching, there could not have been any suspicion of the laundering of the proceeds of it, the justification for the issuing of the second warrant.
Subsequently, the investigator who had commenced the investigation was charged with abuse of official authority. Those proceedings are ongoing.
Relying, inter alia, on his rights to judicial protection and protection of his privacy, the applicant complained before the Constitutional Court that the authorisation of the taking of the covert measures that had led to the monitoring of his person had been unlawful and arbitrary and had served a hidden agenda of politically discrediting him. His complaint was declared inadmissible.
The applicant has never been charged or suspected in connection with the above-mentioned matters.
Communicated under Articles 6 § 1, 8, 13 and 18 of the Convention.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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