Earlier today, the Constitutional Court overturned the law that would previously allow the State Police to conduct wiretaps in specific cases, with the goal of preventing crime.
With the request of the Ombudsman and the Albanian Helsinki Committee, the court ultimately decided to nullify article 6, clause 29/1 and article 131, law no. 108/2014 “For the State Police Department”.
The Constitutional Court stated that article 131 puts limitations on the constitutional right of privacy and personal life, while not respecting constitutional criteria.
According to the court, this law doesn’t regulate these “special measures” in a thorough and clear manner, while simultaneously violating the principle of judicial safety in the direction of the clarity of the law and the coherence of judicial order.
The law approved by parliament last year, with the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which foresaw the right to conduct ambient wiretaps by authorities of the State Police Department, faced objections by numerous jurists, the opposition and was ultimately refused the decree of the President of the Republic.
Article 131 of the law on State Police foresaw the following:
In cases when based on the previously acquired data, authorities suspect that a person has committed a criminal offense or is planning to, or is mobilizing to commit a crime and these activities cannot be discovered or prevented in any other way, in accordance to the legislation in force, the police officer under the rank “Chief Commissioner” or higher, according to the jurisdiction, is authorized by the prosecutor, to take the following measures:
- a) the secret ambient and procedural wiretapping of the individuals in public places or means of transport;
- b) the secret wiretap of phone conversations or other telecommunication means between individuals, in accordance to the applicable legislation;
- c) the use of technical devices for the acts of photographing, audio and video recording, in compliance with the applicable legislation;
The use of specific measures, according to clause 1, of this article, is allowed as long as the reasons or circumstances exist that make their authorization necessary, for a separate or combined use that lasts according to the time limits specified by the applicable legislation.
When the referral of the criminal offense, – for which these special measures have been put to action, – isn’t conducted within six months after the conclusion of the use of these special measures, foreseen by the article above, the entire collected information, as a result of the use of these specific measures, is eradicated, according to the rules determined by the Executive Director of the State Police Department.
In cases, when in specific places, ambient and procedural wiretaps are conducted in a repetitive manner, with the authorization of the General Prosecutor and in accordance to the Code of Criminal Procedures, police structures build stationary systems of ambient wiretapping.
The technicalities of the realization and implementation of the procedural, ambient and preventive wiretapping, as well as the construction and utilization of the stationary systems of ambient wiretapping, are determined by the joint instructions given by the Minister and General Prosecutor.
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