Constitutional Court Upholds Public Defender’s Lawsuit
On April 14, 2016, the Constitutional Court of Georgia upheld the Public Defender's lawsuit regarding the compliance of a legislative regulation with the Constitution concerning the so-called "wiretapping".
The Constitutional Court shared the Public Defender’s position and held that technical possibility of the State Security Service to obtain personal information in real time, to administer it and have direct access to it, contains excessive risks of interference with the person’s right to privacy.
At the same time, the right to copy and keep identifiable data was declared as unconstitutional. The Court drew particular attention to the possession of such data by the State Security Service and noted that copying of data by an agency which has "the function of investigation or is professionally interested in this information, creates excessive risk of interfering with private life."
Considering that satisfaction of the lawsuit will result in fundamental changes in the legislation, the Court defined March 31, 2017, as a “reasonable and sufficient time” for the execution of the decision.