The Supreme Court annulled a decree granting police access to Giovanni and Antoniou's data to investigate serious criminal offenses as part of Al Jazeera's video investigations into naturalizations.
Giovanni and Antoniou had requested the issuance of a Certiorari Privileged Warrant for the annulment of this Decree, which was issued in November 2020, by the Famagusta District Court under the protection of the privacy of private communication (interception of conversations and access to private records communication) laws of 1996 and 2015.
With the issued Decree, the Police gained access to data that were recorded in electronic devices, mobile phones, PCs and USB, which had been located in October 2020, after a search of the homes, offices and vehicles of the two applicants.
The ombudsman's lawyer, in his speech, spoke of a "mechanistic approach" of the Court during the issuance of the warrant, a position which was accepted by the Supreme Court. In particular, in its decision the Supreme Court states that the issuance of such decrees is not a mechanistic process.
As the law itself stipulates (Article 23 (1)) the Judge himself must be satisfied that on the basis of the facts before him, that is (a) that there is a reasonable suspicion or likelihood that a person has committed, is committing or is expected to commit offense or there is a reasonable suspicion or likelihood that the security of the Republic is endangered; warrant in the interest of justice.
The above three conditions should be met cumulatively and not separately, it is added.
"The Court of First Instance ignored this important duty to examine and form an own opinion, whether all three (3) conditions of the law are met. The Court in this case did not function in accordance with the law, did not examine whether the three conditions of the law are met, but acted completely mechanically ", it is noted in the decision of the Supreme Court.
Source: KYPE