CEE Crime, Spy and Somewhat Appalling Politics Roundup (July 8, 2024--extended version)

Surveillance.

Legal and illegal.

Or better put: when is it legal or illegal? Even if government-sponsored.

That, my friend, is the question.

But, dear reader, dear peruser of reports on grime, crime, dastardly spy games and ugly politics, Yours Truly is going to keep you in suspense (at least until the Polish section), as we first run through the quick and legendary review that constitutes our Crime, Spy and Somewhat Appalling Political Roundup for today, July 9, as to be honest, we’ve let the soft, white underbelly of the region get a bit bloated of late.

Yet before we jump in, a few notes: The Corners does have plans to restart the Ukrainian War Update--in part due to the fact that some of you have been in contact (and this is appreciated), but primarily because civilian targets continue to be hit, and somehow the war is not treated for what it is: genocide.

Yes, I said it. Again. And I do not want to hear arguments against this. Friends and friends of friends--civilians--have suffered through attacks on civilian targets such as the Selydove missile attack shown in the photo since the beginning of the war. There are no shades of rationalization here, and the current effort to push civilians out of Kharkiv is by definition genocide as well.

It is what it is.

And in other notes: remember that long tease from late last week noting the arrest of Croatian drug lord Nenad P. Well, yes, something was bugging Yours Truly, and a bit of checking rather nailed down the link... and not to Tito and Dino and the Kinahans. Instead, Sky ECC mails appear to place Nenad P. firmly in league with... the Kavac gang out of Montenegro.

So there you go.

Otherwise, stay tuned, hold onto you seat, and off we go…

Albania

The layman might wonder about the emotional and political impact of a census, but hey, it’s the Balkans, it’s summer… and numbers do count. This became once again evident last week when the Albanian government noted that not only had its population shrunk by 14 percent (!!!) over the last 12 years to 2.4 million, but in the meantime the numbers, allegedly, misreported or misrepresented the true populations of current minorities in the country. Including the Greeks.

Or specifically the Greeks. First, Albanian citizens identifying as Greek came to 23,500. Yet there were also “North Macedonians,” some of whom appear not to be from North Macedonia, but who may actually fall into Greek ethnicity (a la Zorba and “Macedonians”), and at any rate, the Greek Democratic Minority Party is now up in arms—as in they are near ballistic—in that their numbers have been undercounted, played down, etc. This also has spurred criticism from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which questioned the results, and it does not bode well for the ever-present flap over the arrest of Greek mayor-elect Fredi Beleri, who was imprisoned prior to the elections in Himare, Albania, but who still managed to win… and who has remained imprisoned ever since.

In fact, there are many, many questions regarding the Albanian census. The ethnicity of some 150,000 citizens appears to remain unknown, and it appears that generally no neighbour is happy about the results. Apart from Bulgaria, which seemed to celebrate ethnic Bulgarians were recognized at all (even if possibly undercounted by a factor of seven).

At any rate, the Greeks are unhappy. About Beleri. About the census results. And if Albania wants to someday join the EU, they are going to need to come to terms with said unhappiness. But we’re talking the Balkans. And talks are not the forte here. (See the Serb-Kosovo section for more on that point).

In fact (and yes, it’s a bit early to digress), the Albanian census does appear a bit symbolic for the region. The Greeks may block Albania’s EU entry, but hey, this kind of thing is the norm. Those North Macedonians may not be “North Macedonians” (or maybe some of them are), but the country of North Macedonia may well be blocked by Bulgaria—even though the EU appears equally unhappy with Bulgaria as neither country can get along. Croatia and Serbia cannot get along, and Croatia sporadically reminds Serbia that its journey to EU accession is fraught with peril, but Serbia has little chance of gaining EU entry if it cannot right relations with Kosovo.

That said, Serbia has no intention of recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, effectively blocking that path to EU accession or UN recognition. Meanwhile, Kosovo PM Albin Kurti appears to have no interest in real talks with Serbia, effectively blocking Serbia’s path and its own. Finally, there are outliers—countries like Spain that do not an seemingly will not recognize Kosovo, etc., etc.

Then there are the highly complex relations between Albania and Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia (and Croatia), Bosnia and itself (and all of the above).

And it’s summer.

Ok, it’s clear we cannot all get along, but hey… maybe some of us?

Now back to standard news. Former Albanian Health Minister Ilir B. was accused of misappropriating EU funds and now faces up to 26 years in prison. The arrest is just the latest of a long string of charges or accusations laced against former Albanian officials over the past decade. These include former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who was hit with corruption charges in October 2023, as well as fugitive former Deputy Prime Minister Arben A., who allegedly hired a US lobbying company to try to get him off the hook. So everything seems to be back off track. Which is kind of reassuring.

So that’s all right.

Belarus

While Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko’s anti-Semitic comments in mid-June seemed to grab a majority of headlines (in short, he called Jews thieves), there have been other developments that are at least as worrying. Chiefly, while he has for years buddied up to Russia (not always voluntarily); violated press rights and human rights; shuttled immigrants to the border and allowed Russia to launch attacks from Belarus, in early July two disturbing developments took place: 1) Belarus joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which means further buddying up to Russia… and China, and 2) Lukashenko has stated that he is building up forces on the border—with this including special forces—to deal with “sabotage” or terrorism. As there is literally zero risk of this coming from Ukraine, the false-flag-excuse-to-join-the-conflict has just crept up a few more points.

While this may be nothing new—indeed, Russian forces invaded also from Belarussian territory back in 2022—and while Belarus has done the Belarussian/Russian thing and stated that in fact it is Ukraine that is conducting the buildup, a Russian Tass report did quote Belarussian Maj. Gen. Vladimir Kupriyanyuk/deputy chief of the General Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces, who stated: "Undoubtedly, together with our allies, we will react to any attempts to carry out acts of provocation.”

Which means… Let’s not panic, but Yours Truly does not like this. Russia has decided on the meat-grinder approach across all fronts, and this tactic has stretched the limits of Ukraine. Even minor Belarussian incursions would influence the dynamic here.

On the other hand… thus far Lukashenko has proven to be more blowhard than actual bully. Let’s hope it’s just talk. Or in other words, more of the same.

 

Bulgaria

Surprise, surprise, but Bulgaria does not have yet another government.

(Do we need a sarcasm font here?)

In fact, even The Corners is now having a hard time counting governments and snap elections in Bulgaria. Let’s just say that over the past five years or so… it’s been a lot. And to sum up, the shared government idea just did not work (as noted in the past), which led back to… the GERB party.

Which also was not a surprise. And in fact, going in there were likely few who actually expected the proffered GERB party government to make the cut.

And it didn’t.

Now GERB is faced with attempting to push through a minority government, as a majority coalition just is not going to work.

But yet, there is more going on behind the scenes than even what is typically going on behind the scenes. For the GERB coalition was to include the Turkish minority party/the DPS. This party has long been run by strongman Ahmed Dogan, with many believing the highly controversial (and sanctioned by the US) Delyan Peevksi to have been his protégé if not (very powerful) minion. Well, those days appear to be no more, with Peevski and Dogan trading words; with Dogan party compatriots turning on Peevski and basically stating he has been profiting off of the party and worse. Yet Peevski is not a simple case even for Dogan, as his role has co-chair of the DPS has allowed him to boot MPs from the party whom he considered a bit too… Doganesque.

And in the words of a Bulgarian journalist who commented off-the-record to The Corners, it “all has been a lot to take in.”

Said journo stated that “the Dogan-Peevski duo is not what I would call optimal, but it’s been a fact in Bulgarian politics for so long that prior to June I do not know who would have seen this coming.”

Which doesn’t make him (and few others) a fan. Dogan was purportedly a member of Bulgaria’s communist-era secret services. He also was once tried for corruption (but came up innocent) and once survived a “fake assassination attempt. Peevski has in the past been accused of influence peddling (but these accusations were dropped) and he is also known for his battles with the exiled Tsvetan Vassilev over the collapse of CCB bank in a soap opera that saw both men accuse each other of plotting their rival’s assassination. Yet US sanctions (and frozen assets in the US) do have their effect, and at the same time that Peevski has hired legal representation to get him off the sanction list, he has suddenly become a vocal proponent blocking Russian interests in Bulgaria (including those of Lukoil!!!) and of sending aid to Ukraine.

So yeah, it has all been a lot to take in.

 

Czech(ia)

Russian citizens in the Czech Republic must now have biometric passports or they will now be declared illegally in the country—although the Czech Foreign Ministry did seem to be at a loss as to what to do with them. That said, Czech authorities have directly linked this demand to the Russian GRU sabotage activities that saw Czech ammunition warehouses in 2014 destroyed—although this was conclusively stated (if not long previously determined) in only April of this year.

For those not quite in the now, the same two GRU agents allegedly behind the poisoning of ex-Russian FSB agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK have long been tied to not only the Czech Vrbetice ammunition warehouse explosions, but also to other acts of sabotage, including a pre-COVID attempted coup in Montenegro.

For those who really want to be in the know, the biometric passport demand is not a precedent, as Denmark did it first, and other countries have been targeted with on-the-ground attacks. Bulgaria has also seen ammo dumps go up, and Poland has faced a series of arson attacks that some believe are of GRU doing. Meanwhile, an explosion at a military training center in the Czech Republic in mid-June killed one and injured eight has not at this time been tied to Russian activity.

Bounty hunters be alert. The Czech Republic has long been a haven for unseemly types looking or a bit of R&R (as has Montenegro), and once again a foreign crook has been caught in the likeliest of places. Or actually Nikhil G., Indian national and accused hitman facilitator, has now been extradited to the US.  The backstory is allegedly that Nikhil G. was working for… Indian secret services in a politically tinged plot to kill a member of the Sikh separatist movement in the US, although this has been summarily dismissed by the Indian government.

But this is not just Yours Truly theorizing. Nope. Below is a snippet of a statement from the US Department of Justice:

“This extradition makes clear that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to silence or harm American citizens,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Nikhil Gupta will now face justice in an American courtroom for his involvement in an alleged plot, directed by an employee of the Indian government, to target and assassinate a U.S. citizen for his support of the Sikh separatist movement in India. I am grateful to the Department’s agents who foiled this assassination plot and to our Czech partners for their assistance in this arrest and extradition.”

“This murder-for-hire plot — allegedly orchestrated by an Indian government employee to kill a U.S. citizen in New York City — was a brazen attempt to silence a political activist for exercising a quintessential American right: his freedom of speech,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “

And like the Royal We suggested: international fugitives really do seem to like the Czech Republic. And Montenegro.

 

Estonia

Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia—their tough on spies, as Russian Prof. Viacheslav M. found out in mid-June when he was sentenced to six years prison time for working on behalf of the Russian FSB. The professor had been teaching at Tarfu University, and he was convicted for… researching Estonian-EU politics and then sharing his findings with Russian FSB agents. This is an interesting case, in fact, as his defense was reportedly that he was conducting standard political analysis. In fact, even the Estonian services said the information he gathered was mostly publicly accessible.

Yikes! True, getting paid by the FSB especially during a time of war is a good way to get arrested. But to play the devil’s advocate… six years for collecting open-source information…

Yikes!

In other relatable news (if you spend any time in fight clubs), infamous Estonian assassin-for-hire Imre Arakas is being tried for the killing of Remigijus Morkevicius, a mixed-martial artists who was shot to death in Kaunas in 2016.

Imre Arakas is, yes, the same Arakas that we’ve mentioned in the past. This is the hitman who once escaped the long arm of Russian law by jumping out of a courthouse window; who allegedly worked for the Kinahan gang, and who was convicted and served time for his role there. But in his youth also took part in the vicious Russian mafia wars of the 1990s prior to heading to sunnier pastures (for a time) in Spain. He is also suspected in having killed Deimantas Bugavicius, the boyfriend of Lithuanian singer Vita Jakutiene back in 2016.

Yet he’s older now, has reportedly suffered at least one stroke and is finally facing the music.

It seems the life of an assassin is not always what its cracked up to be.

 

Hungary

Viktor Orban, EU bad boy who basically agrees with nothing ever purported to be union policy assumed on July 1 the EU presidency. And while some hoped that the necessity of representing the entire EU, better getting to know the wishes of other members and generally taking on new responsibilities would perhaps broaden his horizons. Instead… Orban hopped on the first plane to go visit Putin in Moscow.

Ok. Maybe not the first plane. He did go to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky first.

Still…

!!!

And let’s just say the EU was not happy, noting that Orban had “no mandate” to represent the EU in talks with Russia while generally condemning the trip.

But there you go. Orban is as Orban does.

Or maybe his horizons are primarily in the East.

 

Kosovo

Yes, Serbian-Kosovo normalization talks resumed in early July. Once again.

Only they really didn’t. Or at least they (again) really were not successful. And for all practical purposes, the press coverage, as well as a source for The Corners basically repeated the same mantra: Prime Minister Albin Kurti just not having it. That “it” being the establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities, which actually was ALREADY AGREED UPON now more than a decade ago.

Not to let Serbia and Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic off the hook, as neither side appeared amenable to real talks (and the past two years have been… a trial)—and Vucic has stated (more often in Serb than in English) that his country simply will not EVER recognize Kosovo as an independent state, but that association is in fact key. Or at least a key starting point. And despite various EU representatives having slammed Serbia in the past (often for good reason), that association is part of the agreement prepared by the EU.

Now both sides are expected to make comments to the agreement/implementation plan and submit them by mid-July. But the expected comments are quite easy to predict.

And they will likely all be written in red.

Yet there is an interesting footnote here. Again while Serbia gets its share of negative headlines (the re-arrival in the Serbian government of US sanctioned secret service boss Aleksandar Vulin is a case in point, few appear to be aware that Kosovo has been sanctioned by the EU that go back to Kosovo’s decision to basically recognize boycotted elections in North Kosovo and then back the “election” of Kosovo Albanian mayors in four municipalities and failing to schedule new elections.

Let’s just say that the ethnic Serb population is (still) not happy.

And it’s summer in the Balkans.

But yeah, we’ve already said that.

 

Montenegro

Yes, behind the bizarre delayed extradition requests around the region there always seems to be a bit of intrigue. Whether these be the historically ill-advised release of Tambov mafia figure Gennady P. in Spain, the inexplicable release of Tito and Dino founder Edin G. from arrest in Dubai in January of this year (or the release of convicted gang leader and murderer Ridouan T.’s son, Faissal T.—also from arrest in Dubai—the fact is that extradition can get sticky. Or not.

Yet there are also the refusal-to-extradite cases that almost always seem to have at least a curious footnote in their background. This brings us back (yes, once again) to Do Kwon, the Terraform Labs crypto king accused of costing investors USD 40 bln, who was arrested in Montenegro with a false passport. The US (and South Korea and Singapore) have long been after Do Kwon, and extradition has been a stop-start affair. But don’t bet against US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigators once they get their focus, and between that investigation and requests to extradite a curious document popped up noting none other than Montenegro Prime Minister Milojko Spajic as… an investor in Terraform Labs.

And it was no small investment, as said prime minister paid for no less than 750,000 Luna coins, according to the Montenegrin press.

Kind of makes you think.

 

Poland

An attempt to catch up on Polish events since my most recent hiatus would be somewhat futile. But here are a few highlights:

• Back in December Poland convicted no less than 14 persons out of 16 for spying and sabotage, including 13 Ukrainians, one Russian and two Belarussians. Of the 16 there was one more Belarussian whose trial is still ongoing, this being Uladislau P. Yet his girlfriend, Maryia Miadzvedzeva as sly. She received a one-year-and-one-month prison sentence, but she just happened to skip that sentencing date and… skip town. Two other Ukrainians also slipped the clutches of the authorities, and they are now on the lamb.

And if you are wondering, yes, this happens quite often in the EU (with some of the more notorious cases having taken place in Spain, but Poland (case in point) has seen its share of cases.

But hey, what’s a few more spies in the big picture?

• Poland also wound up between a rock and a hard place once again with regard to the migrant situation on the Belarussian border, with its own human rights commissioner, Marcin Wiacek, criticizing a no-go zone set up along the border, which he called essentially unconstitutional. This is basically a 200-meter-deep no-man’s land that runs some 60 kilometers—and oddly, although member of the current Citizens Coalition (KO) government criticized this in the past, nothing works like the same old thing, as the barrier truly is reminiscent of a very similar move put in place by the former ruling government under Law-and-Justice (PiS) in 2022—which it was forced to dismantle under pressure only one year later. Complicating matters was the death of a Polish soldier by stabbing at the end of May—as well as believable reports that Belarussian secret service members or border guards have attempted to “train” migrants to attack Polish border guards. Then there is the awful situation faced by migrants themselves, most having been duped into believing that a trip to Belarus is tantamount to a free ride into the European Union. In short, it’s ugly, dangerous, and yes, Lukashenko is ultimately at fault.
• And oddly, despite barriers, alliances and politics, there is organized crime linked to Belarus—or at least it has become a convenient source of bootleg cigarettes, with the Polish Central Bureau of Investigation (CBSP) noting that 38 persons had been arrested and now face charges for illegally smuggling, which eventually may have cost the state budget PLN 40 mln in excise tax. And while the primary goods were cigarettes, the gang also long ran a mix of alcohol, stolen cars and narcotics.

Yet it is another story that caught the eye of Yours Truly in July, this being that the NGO Article 19 highlighted what local investigators have long recognized as a problem (although some may have seen this as an opportunity) in that under the reign of PiS surveillance law drastically changed. Now no, I am not referring to the use of Pegasus software, which is another (albeit very long-running) story, but instead actually changes in the law that essentially did away with the need for warrants in order to conduct surveillance.

As this has already been a long review (and as there is more to go), to sum up, whereas in the past police or prosecutors were obliged to seek a court order to conduct surveillance (and this was typically granted based on need or an understood impossibility of gaining evidence through less invasive methods), instead the system was changed to give law enforcement quite wide benefit of the doubt. In short, surveillance could be begun without said court order—and in fact this included ordering, for example, a cell phone company to collect all communication—and only if the evidence was deemed useful would it be included in a list/notification to the court as having been conducted for a relevant case.

Obviously, Dear Reader, you likely see the problem. If said “findings” were deemed useless, they simply would not be submitted to the court. Thus we give you… unrestrained surveillance. Unless, of course, police, CBSP, Anti-Corruption Agency (CBA) agents, etc. remained absolutely 100 percent upstanding.

Hey, it’s possible.

On the flip-side, the change created the opportunity for a thriving black market. Not saying it happened, but what courts don’t see… can easily be sold.

Now whether or not Article 19 recognized the latter nuances here could be debated, but what it did do was pick up on a European Court of Human Rights decision on this very topic. The press release reads as follows:

“ARTICLE 19 welcomes today’s decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Polish human rights activists concerning mass secret surveillance. The decision is an important win for limiting unrestricted police and intelligence agencies’ access to communications data. It delivers a strong statement in support of safeguards for better protection of the rights to freedom of expression and privacy. 

“Today, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) found a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (Article 8, which guarantees respect for the right to private and family life) in respect of the complaints concerning the operational-control regime, the retention of communications data for potential use by the relevant national authorities, and the secret-surveillance regime under the Anti-Terrorism Act.”

As this is a rather important subject, I’ll paste in the full press release at the end of this review.

 

Romania

With France now shaken by the rising strength of the far right, it does not hurt to keep tabs on CEE elections. Romania’s presidential election is coming up. Mircea Geoana, currently deputy secretary general in NATO slightly ahead of the pack, but there is competition in the likes of Marcel Ciolacu (Social Democrats/PSD) and Elena Lasconi (Reform Party/USR). And while the PSD’s history (if we leap back to the time of strongman Liviu Dragnea) may cause a bit of spontaneous anxiety, it is the far right that has Yours Truly worried, as Diana Sosoaca has in the 13-14 percent range when it comes to support. This is likely a full 10 percent behind that of Ciolacu, but still very completive with regard to the above. And considering that nationalist George Simion is also in the same range.

Let’s just count on a second round of somewhat tense elections. And count on the second round on Dec. 8, with parliamentary elections shortly before that.

And hold onto your marbles, as Europe’s tilt to the right continues to become more likely degrees.

Now back to standard fare. Russia gave the boot to a Romanian diplomat AFTER Romanian anti-terrorism police (DIICOT) arrested a Romanian citizen for passing sensitive information to Russian agents. The latter faces charges of treason. Also, if we would like to play purely tit-for-tat, Romania also did declare a Russian diplomat persona-non-grata. So as far as June is concerned, Romania is up 2-1.

Slovakia

Slovak Prime Minister appears to be slowly recovering from an assassination attempt in May, making a public appearance on July 4, the same day that Slovak authorities announced that the shooter will now be charged not only with attempted murder, but also on terrorism charges. Likewise, the lone-wolf theory may be out the door, as police indicated that the wanna-be assassin was possibly acting for a third party.

Meanwhile, Fico’s controversial judicial reforms (covered in the past) are still… controversial. But we’ll get back into those in a post later this month.

Ukraine

Ukraine is beleaguered, and the summer season is aiding the current Russian offensive. None of this should be news to you at this time—and nor should complaints by Zelensky that the weapons are coming too slowly for an effective defense, much less any kind of counter offensive. Combine this with now a severe shortage of manpower, the use of Russian glide bombs against both miliary and civilian targets, and July appears gloomy indeed.

But maybe there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Still… hang on. Let’s talk crime and the bad news first.

First, Kazakh opposition leader, journalist. and Youtube star Aydos Sadykov died July 2 after having been shot in mid-June in Kyiv.  As summed up by Wiki, “Sadykov was known for his opposition to former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, whom he accused of holding a pro-Russian stance.”

Sadykov was shot in the temple while driving a vehicle in Kyiv on June 18 in the company of his wife. Only days later Ukrainian police established that the attack was carried out by two Kazakh citizens, who had travelled to Kyiv from Poland, these being Altay J. and Meiram Q., who happens to be employed by the Kostanay Region Police Department in northern Kazakhstan. Both escaped to Moldova following the attack, and Kazakhstan has made a big deal of questioning Altay J., but it has also stated that it will not extradite.

Sadykov’s wife has accused the president of Kazakhstan of ordering the assassination.

With regard to the front, a breakdown will be coming soon, but the anticipated withdrawal from part of Chasiv Yar on the Donetsk front has now taken place. This is a serious loss for Ukraine, and The Corners will delve deeper soon.

Yet… there is a subplot in that despite exhaustion and the aforementioned weapons and supply issues, The Corners sources have noted that Russia may be on the brink of finally burning itself out. In short, any semblance of vim and vigour among the invaders has seemed to burn itself out. Obviously, this is anecdotal, and the war is far from over, but there are signs that Russia in a strange way is simply holding on in hope of Ukraine being forced to a deal following the upcoming US elections.

Again, it’s too early to become optimistic, but perhaps the news is not quite as bleak as it seems.

Otherwise, that is your roundup. Peruse, ponder… enjoy. And now that we are somewhat caught up, anticipate slightly shorter breakdowns in the future.

Now for that promised press release (in full):

 

ARTICLE 19 has previously urged the Polish Government to end mass surveillance and ensure transparency and oversight of the work of the secret services and law enforcement agencies. We have also criticised the use of surveillance spyware against former opposition figures and raised concerns about extended statutory powers of the secret services. 

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) found a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (Article 8, which guarantees respect for the right to private and family life) in respect of the complaints concerning the operational-control regime, the retention of communications data for potential use by the relevant national authorities, and the secret-surveillance regime under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Barbora Bukovská, ARTICLE 19’s Senior Director for Law and Policy, commented:

Keeping mass surveillance measures in check is a necessary safeguard against abuse by police and intelligence agencies. Unauthorised surveillance can have devastating effects on human rights. 

ARTICLE 19 believes that such secret measures do not only significantly interfere with the right to privacy. As we have seen over and over, they also have a chilling effect on the freedom of expression of journalists, NGOs, activists and lawyers, among others. 

Today’s decision of the European Court solidifies protection against such intrusion. Intrusive, secret surveillance measures, like those in this case, should be subject to authorisation and review by an independent judicial authority.

Background

The case of Pietrzak and Bychawska-Siniarska and Others v. Poland was initiated by a group of Polish human rights NGOs and a criminal defence lawyer. They challenged the lack of effective oversight and remedies available under Polish law for those subjected to secret surveillance by state agencies. They argued the laws enabling secret surveillance breached their right to private and family life and the right to an effective remedy under Articles 8 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, respectively. 

Under Polish law, a person subjected to covert surveillance, for example in the form of monitoring their communications online, does not have the right to access information about the methods of surveillance used against them. This rule continues to apply even after the cessation of surveillance activities that have not resulted in the identification of any crime. This creates a situation whereby a person may be a victim of interference with their right to privacy by covert surveillance conducted by various government actors without having a recourse to an effective remedy.

Today, the European Court ruled, unanimously, that there had been three violations of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights which guarantees the right to respect for private and family life. Namely, it found that

• The mere existence of the Polish legislation – its secret nature, the wide scope of the measures, and the lack of effective review – in itself constituted an interference with the rights of the applicants. 
• In light of all the shortcomings in the operational-control regime of the surveillance, Polish legislation did not provide sufficient safeguards against excessive recourse to surveillance and undue interference with individuals’ private life. The absence of sufficient guarantees was not sufficiently counterbalanced by the current mechanism for judicial review. 
• Polish legislation, which required information and communication technologies providers to retain communications data in a general and indiscriminate manner for possible future use by the relevant national authorities, was not “necessary in a democratic society”. 
• The secret surveillance provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Act also failed to satisfy the requirements of Article 8 of the Convention. The Court noted that the imposition of secret surveillance and its application in the initial three-month period were not subject to a review by an independent body that did not include employees of the service conducting that surveillance.

In October 2020, ARTICLE 19, together with Privacy International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, submitted a third-party intervention to the Court in the case. 

 

Photo credit: Dsns.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.