EIT: Asianajajan yrityksen pankkitilin tutkiminen yhden asiakkaan rikosepäilyn johdosta loukkasi EIS 8 artiklaa

EIT katsoi tänään periaatteellisesti merkittävässä tuomiossaan, että saksalaisasianajajan toimiston koko pankkitilin tutkiminen yhden asianajajan asiakkaan rikosepäilyn vuoksi oli suhteetonta etenkin huomioiden tutkimisen matala kynnys (“syytä epäillä rikosta”), tutkimuspyynnön laajuus, ammatinharjoittamisen luonteen ja asianajajan asiakkaiden paljastuminen syyttäjäviranoamisille, sekä tehokkaiden oikeussuojakeinojen puuttuminen.

EIT:n lehdistötiedotteesta:

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Sommer v. Germany (application no. 73607/13) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned a complaint brought by a criminal defence lawyer, Ulrich Sommer, about an inspection of his professional bank account by the public prosecution office. The prosecuting authorities’ requests to inspect his account was made in the context of a criminal investigation into organised fraud, one of the suspects being a client of Mr Sommer. Mr Sommer complained that the German authorities had, without justification, collected, stored and made available information about his professional bank account, thereby also revealing information about his clients.

The Court found that the inspection of Mr Sommer’s bank account had been disproportionate. It notably bore in mind: the low threshold for inspecting Mr Sommer’s account under the relevant domestic law, which allowed such measures to be carried out as soon as there was as suspicion of a criminal offence; the wide scope of the prosecuting authorities’ requests for information, which were only only limited in time and covered all information concerning Mr Sommer’s bank account and banking transactions; the subsequent disclosure and continuing storage of his personal information; and the fact that those shortcomings had not been offset by proper procedural safeguards.

Koko lehdistötiedote, missä myös linkki koko tuomioon, löytyy täältä: here