CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLARES POLICE WIRETAP LOOPHOLE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Asbarez
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
YEREVAN
Armenia’s highest court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional a
legal provision allowing law-enforcement bodies to wiretap telephone
conversations and monitor other private correspondence without court
permissions in some cases.
The Armenian constitution guarantees the complete privacy of
citizens’ personal communication, including phone calls and regular
and electronic mail. It says security agencies can have access to
private correspondence of criminal suspects only if they get clearance
from courts.
An article of Armenia’s Criminal Code of Procedural Justice enacted
after a constitutional reform in 2005 says that such permissions
are not necessary if one of the parties to a phone conversation or
other forms of personal communication allows law-enforcement bodies
to breach their privacy.
Earlier this year, Armenia’s state human rights ombudsman, Armen
Harutiunian, asked the Constitutional Court to declare this clause
null and void, saying that its runs counter to the constitution.
The court accepted Harutiunian’s arguments in a ruling announced
on Tuesday. It obligated the National Assembly to amend the code
accordingly.
Many Armenian opposition politicians and journalists have long
suspected the authorities and the National Security Service (NSS) of
illegally eavesdropping on their phone calls. The Constitutional Court
ruling will hardly dispel their suspicions. Skeptics will point out
that Armenian courts rarely make decisions going against the wishes
of the government and its security apparatus.
From: A. Papazian