Court: Law denying Androulakis access to wiretapping data unconstitutional  

Greece’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, has ruled that a law forbidding the independent authority responsible for privacy, ADAE, from informing PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis about the data collected during his surveillance by the National Intelligence Service (EYP) is unconstitutional.

In a unanimous decision announced on Friday, the plenary of the Council of State stated that the provision included in the 2021 law, which prohibited informing the affected party after the expiration of the lifting of confidentiality of communications, even when there is no risk to national security that was seen as warranting the imposition of the measure, “constitutes an excessive limitation of the inviolability of communication, which is not justified within the framework of the rule of law.”

It added that the provision violates the Greek Constitution, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Following the decision, the case will need to be reconsidered by ADAE, which is obligated to address it in light of the new facts.

Gov’t reacts

Reacting to the decision, conservative officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that the government has since amended the legislation concerning surveillance and revamped the composition of ADAE. They added that ADAE will reconsider the Androulakis case under its revised composition.