Facts
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt conducted a criminal investigation into a robbery and monitored the telephone connection of the main suspect, T. In the process, conversations of his wife, the complainant, were also recorded. The complainant requested that these telephone logs be removed from the files and not used.
The Federal Court largely dismissed the complainant's constitutional complaint. It concluded that the telephone surveillance of the husband and the resulting recordings of the complainant's conversations as a co-user of the monitored connection were in accordance with the Constitution and the Convention.
Considerations
The Federal Court stated that the secrecy of telecommunications under Art. 36 para. 4 of the Federal Constitution and Art. 8 of the ECHR is generally protected, but can be restricted under certain conditions. The surveillance of the husband fulfilled the legal requirements under § 71a of the Criminal Procedure Code, in particular with regard to the seriousness of the offence, the concrete suspicion of an offence, and the necessity of the measure.
The recording of the complainant's conversations as a co-user of the monitored connection also withstood the constitutional review. The Federal Court emphasized that conversation partners and co-users of a monitored connection have an independent claim to have the…