Challenges in the Investigation Process when Interfering with the Right to the Inviolability of Private Life (On the Example of Search and Seizure)

Abstract

Criminal law cannot exist without human rights law. Every investigative or procedural action inherently involves a certain degree of interference with fundamental human rights, which may be carried out only with particular caution and exclusively for the purpose of achieving a legitimate aim. Such interference must, at the same time, be suitable, necessary, and proportionate. The court is entrusted with the function of the so-called “review” of decisions made by the investigative authority. It is precisely this authority of the court that constitutes the principal component of the legal mechanism through which the prevention of unjustified interference with fundamental human rights must be ensured. This risk becomes particularly evident where, in cases of urgent necessity, in order to discover an object, document, substance, or other item containing information relevant to the case, it is necessary to conduct a search/seizure.

The present article addresses the scientific analysis of investigative and judicial practice existing at both the national and international levels in this regard. In the course of the research, comparative legal and doctrinal analysis methods were employed. Furthermore, the identification of challenges arising during criminal investigations and their legal assessment were carried out through doctrinal analysis. The legal and practical aspects of interference with the right to private life were also analyzed in a historical context through the use of the empirical research method.

As a result of the research, the principal finding may be formulated as follows: where a search or seizure is conducted on the basis of anonymous information or information received from a confidential informant of the operational-investigative service, and an illegal object, item, or substance is seized, such evidence may serve as the basis for a conviction only if the possession of the illegal object, item, or substance by the person concerned is confirmed not only by the testimonies of the police officers participating in the investigative action and the corresponding investigative report, but also by additional neutral evidence.

Accordingly, the main purpose of the paper is to identify the challenges arising from interference with the right to private life in the context of criminal investigations and to seek possible ways to overcome them.

In the course of working on the research topic, the methods of comparative legal analysis and doctrinal analysis were primarily employed. The identification of challenges arising in criminal investigations and their legal assessment were also carried out through the review of judicial practice and doctrinal analysis. In the present article, the legal and practical aspects of interference with the right to private life were additionally analyzed within a historical context through the use of the empirical research method.