Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: European Court of human rights

Date: 04/10/2007

Subject: In September 1991 an investigation was opened concerning the applicant who was suspected of drug trafficking and carrying offensive weapons. In connection with that investigation the Palermo preliminary investigations judge authorised interception of telephone calls to and from the applicant’s home and the use of listening devices. He also took evidence against the applicant from P., a person facing charges in related proceedings. On 27 November 1995 Agrigento District Court sentenced the applicant to 15 years and two months’ imprisonment, basing its findings in particular on the recordings made by means of the listening devices and on the witness evidence given by P. The sentence was reduced on appeal to 14 years and four months’ imprisonment. An appeal by the applicant on points of law was dismissed by the Court of Cassation on 12 May 1998. The applicant complained of the use of the listening devices and the interception of his telephone calls and complained that he had been convicted on the basis of statements made by a person he had not been able to examine or have examined. He relied on Articles 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Noting that there was nothing in the file to show that the applicant’s right to respect for his private life had been infringed by the Italian authorities, the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 8. It further held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 6 on account of the use made of recordings resulting from listening devices and telephone tapping and of P.’s statements.

Parties: Panarisi c/ Italia

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 7 Privacy - Justice - Art. 47 Right to an effective remedy before a tribunal