Systematic and indiscriminate retention of telecommunications data

[1van]

The case Škoberne v. Slovenia (application no. 19920/20) concerned the proceedings against a former judge and his conviction in 2013 for accepting bribes. His conviction had been based on statements by his two co-defendants who had admitted to being intermediaries and on traffic and location data obtained under the data-retention regime in force at the time in Slovenia.

In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life).

Although only telecommunications data needed for billing and commercial purposes could now be retained in Slovenia, at the time of the applicant’s conviction communication service providers had been obliged to retain such data systematically and indiscriminately for a period of 14 months.

The Court considered that such retention did not remain within the bounds of what was necessary in a democratic society. Consequently, the retention of, access to and processing of the data in the context of the criminal proceedings against the applicant had breached his privacy rights. The Court also held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) (right to a fair trial/right to obtain examination of witnesses) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court noted that the proceedings against the applicant and his co-defendants had been disjoined following the latter’s admission of guilt and that the applicant had been denied the possibility to put questions to them in court in the separate proceedings against him that ensued. The applicant had therefore been deprived of the opportunity to effectively adduce witness evidence which would have been important in arguing his case, therefore rendering the trial proceedings unfair.

Izvor: https://twitter.com/ECHR_CEDH/status/175...5729786179