CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 20 juillet 2021

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SLOVAKIA (Applications nos. 58361/12 and 2 others)     JUDGMENT   Art 8 • Private life • Practically unfettered power exercised by intelligence service implementing surveillance operation, without adequate legal safeguards • Lack of clarity of the applicable jurisdictional rules, lack of procedures for the implementation of the existing rules and flaws in their application • Storage of primary and derivative material subject to confidential internal rules without external control • Lack of lawful basis for retention of primary material   STRASBOURG 20 July 2021 FINAL   22/11/2021   This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.   In the case of Zoltán Varga v. Slovakia, The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a   Chamber composed of:   Ksenija Turković, President,   Péter Paczolay [present via video link],   Krzysztof Wojtyczek,   Gilberto Felici,   Lorraine Schembri Orland,   Ioannis Ktistakis, judges,   Ladislav Duditš, ad hoc judge [present via video link] , and Renata Degener, Section Registrar, Having regard to: three applications (nos. 58361/12, 25592/16 and 27176/16) against the Slovak Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Slovak national, Mr Zoltán Varga (“the   applicant”), on 6   September 2012 and 4 and 9 May 2016, respectively; the decision to give notice to the Government of the Slovak Republic (“the Government”) of the complaints under Articles 8 and 13 of the Convention about (i) the implementation of three surveillance warrants concerning the applicant, (ii) the creation and retention of various material on the basis of that surveillance, (iii) the alleged lack of safeguards against abuse, (iv) the alleged leak of information concerning the applicant, and (v) the alleged lack of an effective remedy, and to declare the remainder of the applications inadmissible; the decision not to have the applicant’s name disclosed; the decision of the President of the Section to appoint Mr Ladislav Duditš to sit as an ad hoc judge (Article 26 § 4 of the Convention and Rule   29 § 1 (a) of the Rules of Court), Ms A. Poláčková, the judge elected in respect of Slovakia, having withdrawn from sitting in the case (Rule   28   §   3); the parties’ observations; the Chamber’s decision to lift anonymity previously granted to the applicant (Rule 47 § 4); Having deliberated in private on 29 June 2021, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: INTRODUCTION 1.     The three applications originate from various facts linked to a surveillance operation carried out in 2005 and 2006 by the Slovak Intelligence Service (“the SIS”). In 2011 the existence of that operation became publicly known, with reference to the codename “Gorilla”. Since then, the operation and matters allegedly revealed by it have given rise to a number of investigations, have generated an extensive amount of litigation, have received significant media coverage, and have had multiple political implications. THE FACTS 2.     The applicant was born in 1966 and lives in Bratislava. He was represented by Škubla & Partneri s.r.o., a law firm with its registered office in Bratislava. 3.     The Government were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Pirošíková, succeeded by their co-Agent, Ms M. Bálintová. 4.     The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. BACKGROUND 5.     The applicant is a former police officer who at the relevant time was working in cooperation with an influential finance group. He is the owner of a flat in which, at the material time, he did not live but “intermittently spen[t] time”, and which he admits having occasionally let other persons use. Warrants 1 and 2 6 .     On 23 November 2005, at the request of the SIS, the Bratislava Regional Court issued a warrant authorising a surveillance operation code ‑ named “Gorilla” (“warrant 1”). It was aimed at monitoring the applicant and meetings taking place in the above-mentioned flat. On 18   May   2006 the Regional Court issued another similar warrant authorising the continuation of the operation (“warrant 2”). While a copy of these warrants has not been submitted to the Court, it can be understood that, in addition to the applicant, warrant 2 was concerned with monitoring a third party. The identity of that person has not been officially disclosed. Nevertheless, the applicant submitted that he had reasons to believe that it was a prominent businessman associated with the above-mentioned finance group, who himself has separate applications pending before the Court about matters similar to those obtaining in the present case. 7.     Warrants 1 and 2 were implemeanted by the SIS between November   2005 and August 2006 by way of audio surveillance of the flat. In the course of the operation, the SIS monitored the applicant and other persons. 8.     In so far as warrants 1 and 2 concerned the applicant, in 2012 they were annulled by the Constitutional Court as being unjustified and unlawful due to the lack of several fundamental elements (for details see paragraph   33 below). 9.     On the basis of the quashing of the two warrants, in 2020 the Regional Court ruled in the context of an action by the applicant against the SIS that their implementation had violated his right to protection of his personal integrity (see paragraph 59 below). Warrant 3 10.     Meanwhile, on 26 January 2006, the Regional Court had issued a further warrant authorising the SIS to monitor the applicant (“warrant 3”), following an application by the SIS of the same date. A copy of it has likewise not been made available to the Court. However, the information available indicates that warrant 3 authorised the SIS to use “technical means of gathering intelligence in the process of production and use of video, audio and other recordings in relation to [the applicant] in a flat [owned by him at a given address]”. Warrant 3 was valid until 26 July 2006. It was implemented by the SIS between the dates mentioned. 11.     In 2016 the Constitutional Court annulled warrant 3 on similar grounds as warrants 1 and 2 (for details see paragraph 55 below). 12.     The Regional Court’s above-mentioned 2020 ruling concerning the violation of the applicant’s right to protection of personal integrity also extended to the implementation of warrant 3. Products of implementation of warrants 1, 2 and 3 13.     The implementation of warrants 1, 2 and 3 resulted in primary and derivative material. The former is understood to be a recording (audio or its transcription) and the latter to be material based on it (summaries and analytical notes). Such material was or has been kept within the control of the SIS. 14 .     It was later taken by the domestic authorities as established that the SIS had destroyed the primary material resulting from the implementation of warrants 1 and 2 on 2 April 2008. The destruction of this material took place without any judge being present. Minutes were drawn up but no copy has been provided to the Court. It appears that the reason why the material was destroyed was that it was found that it contained nothing that could serve the purpose pursued by the operation. 15.     The primary material resulting from the implementation of warrant   3, as well as the derivative material resulting from the implementation of all three warrants, is archived by the SIS in the manner specified in section 17(6) of the SIS Act (Law no. 46/1993 Coll., as amended), that is “in a way that excludes access to it by anyone”. The rules for the retention of such material are provided in an internal regulation issued by the Director of the SIS under section 17(8) of the SIS Act. 16 .     In addition, some further material based on or linked to these warrants was kept within the control of the Regional Court. This consisted of the SIS’s applications for the said warrants, an SIS report on the implementation of warrant 1, an SIS application for early discontinuance of the operation under warrant 2, the SIS report of 16 June 2006 on the implementation of warrant   3 and the SIS report of 1 August 2006 on the discontinuance of its implementation. 17 .     The case files of the Regional Court concerning all three warrants, including the further material mentioned in the previous paragraph, were destroyed on 13 April 2016 (warrant 1) and 8 March 2017 (warrants 2 and   3), on the grounds that the prescribed archiving term had expired. Written and audio material linked to operation Gorilla 18 .     In December 2011 some written text was anonymously posted on the Internet. This material indicated that it was the result of the implementation of warrant 1 and warrant 2. It could be defined as a descriptive analytical summary, purportedly produced by the SIS, of what had occurred at the flat. There had purportedly been meetings between the applicant, the businessman referred to above and other persons, including a minister and other public officials, discussing and coordinating massive corruption in the context of the denationalisation of strategic State-owned enterprises, various personal appointments, and bribing of members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (“the Parliament”). By the applicant’s count the material mentioned his name more than a hundred times. 19 .     In the course of a home search conducted in 2018 in an unrelated criminal investigation into a suspected murder, a portable data storage device was seized containing a digital audio track that appeared to be the audio recording on which the text mentioned in the preceding paragraph was based. 20 .     After it had been established that the content of this device had no link to the investigation in question, it was transmitted to the investigation that had meanwhile been opened into suspicions of corruption, as revealed by the material posted on the Internet (for details see below). It appears that copies of the recording are being used in other criminal investigations as well. 21.     In December 2018 the fact of the above-mentioned seizure was reported by the media. In October 2019 a digital audio track was anonymously transmitted to the media and posted on the Internet. It   purported to be the recording on the basis of which the text mentioned in paragraph 18 above had been compiled. 22.     The authenticity of the text and of the audio recording has not been officially confirmed. They are however commonly referred to as having a connection to operation Gorilla. Public response and official investigations 23.     From December 2011, when the said written text was posted on the Internet, the affair attracted – and has until the present day retained ‑ extraordinary public attention. The Head of the Office of Special Prosecutions of the Public Prosecution Service (“PPS”) reported on it in Parliament. A book was published about it, a Minister of the Interior and other persons commented on it at press conferences, and former investigators involved in the investigation into the suspected corruption appeared in a talk show on TV. 24.     In connection with the above-mentioned matters, three lines of inquiry were pursued by the authorities. Firstly, an investigation was carried out into whether the SIS had failed to   transmit the outcome of the operation to the prosecuting authorities and whether its agents had abused their authority by using that outcome for the purposes of extortion. As a complement to that inquiry, an investigation was carried out into suspected abuse of official powers in connection with the SIS’s applications for the warrants in question and the issuance of those warrants by the Regional Court. Those investigations have been stayed and no one has been charged. Secondly, an investigation was opened into suspected corruption, as revealed by the material posted on the Internet. This is ongoing and no one is currently facing charges. Thirdly, an investigation was carried out into suspected slander by the Minister of the Interior in his press-conference statements. The status of this investigation is uncertain, but no charges have been brought to date. 25.     The applicant himself has never been charged in connection with the matters referred to above. APPLICANT’S INITIAL RESPONSE 26.     The applicant has submitted that he learned about the surveillance operation from an anonymous document left in his mailbox. In order to verify the facts and obtain more information, he turned to various public authorities. Their responses included the following. 27.     In a letter of 30 May 2011 the Regional Court confirmed that a warrant had been issued on 23 November 2005 following an application by the SIS. However, no further information could be provided as it was classified. The only body authorised to declassify it was the SIS, which had not done so. 28 .     In a letter of 17 June 2011 the Secretariat of Parliament addressed the issue of the exercise at the relevant time of parliamentary supervision over the activities of the SIS by a special parliamentary committee (“the Special Parliamentary Committee”) to be established under the Privacy Protection Act (Law. no. 166/2003 Coll., as amended – “PP Act”). In particular, on 17   March 2005 Parliament had set up the Committee on supervision of the use of technical means of gathering intelligence (“TMGI”) to carry out that supervision. The committee had drawn up a   report concerning the year 2005, but the report had never been debated by the plenary session of Parliament. As from 4 August 2006 the task had been assigned to the Defence and Security Committee. That committee had, however, never produced any report for the first half of 2006. FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL COMPLAINT 29.     On 6 June 2011 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court. Identifying the Regional Court and the SIS as the respondents, he alleged that a number of his fundamental rights had been violated on account of the issuance of warrants 1 and 2, their implementation and the creation of the various types of material based on the surveillance operation. In addition, he sought orders for the destruction of any such material and payment of 33,000 euros (EUR) in compensation for non ‑ pecuniary damage. 30 .     On 6 March 2012 the Constitutional Court declared the complaint admissible in so far as it concerned the proceedings before the Regional Court in relation to the contested warrants and the issuance of those warrants, and the remainder inadmissible. 31 .     The merits of the admissible part of the complaint were determined in a constitutional judgment of 20 November 2012, whereby the Constitutional Court found that the Regional Court had violated the applicant’s rights to a fair hearing and to respect for his private life, as well as their constitutional equivalents. Accordingly, in so far as warrants 1 and 2 concerned the applicant, the Constitutional Court annulled them and made an award in respect of the applicant’s legal costs. However, it dismissed the applicant’s claim for just satisfaction in respect of non-pecuniary damage, as well as his other claims. 32 .     The relevant part of the Constitutional Court’s reasoning may be summarised as follows. Under the subsidiarity principle, the Constitutional Court had no jurisdiction in respect of the SIS because the supervision of SIS operations which had been authorised by the Regional Court lay within the jurisdiction of the latter court. For similar reasons, the Constitutional Court had no power to order the destruction of any material resulting from an authorised surveillance operation which fell within the control of the SIS. The relevant part of the complaint was thus inadmissible. 33 .     Warrants 1 and 2 were unjustified and unlawful as they lacked several fundamental elements. For example, the time-frame within which the SIS was to report to the Regional Court on their implementation was not indicated clearly, and the warrants were not susceptible to review on account of a complete lack of individual reasoning. Moreover, they did not identify the judge who had issued them. 34.     As to the applicant’s claim that, on the basis of the annulment of the warrants, the Constitutional Court should order the destruction of any material linked to operation “Gorilla” within the control of the Regional Court, the Constitutional Court observed that the material “was in court files, did not originate from the actions of the Regional Court and was not the product of secret surveillance, or was so at best partly and indirectly”. Furthermore, the Constitutional Court pointed out that the admissible part of the complaint only concerned the warrants and the procedure in respect of them. It concluded that, in such circumstances, the annulment of the warrants could not serve as a basis for ordering the Regional Court to destroy the material in question. 35 .     The Constitutional Court also observed that any interference by the SIS with the applicant’s personal integrity could be the subject of an action for the protection of personal integrity under the Civil Code. A claim for damages could also be pursued against the State under the State Liability Act (Law no. 514/2003 Coll., as amended – “SL Act”). It held that, for similar reasons, the applicant’s claim in respect of non-pecuniary damage was to be dismissed. 36 .     As to the ruling concerning the applicant’s costs, the Constitutional Court calculated the amount of its award on the basis of the number of “acts of legal assistance” rendered and the value of such an “act” established under the calculation formula applicable at national level. It compensated the applicant for three such acts and, by implication, dismissed his claim in respect of other acts in the constitutional proceedings (e.g. consultations between the applicant and his lawyer) and beyond (e.g. requests for action addressed to the SIS and the Regional Court). SUBSEQUENT RESPONSE 37.     Relying on the Constitutional Court’s conclusions outlined above, the applicant and the other person presumably concerned (see paragraph 6 above) took various steps essentially aimed at obtaining the destruction of all primary, derivative and other material resulting from the surveillance operation that fell within the control of the Regional Court and of the SIS. The results included the following. 38.     In a letter of 10 January 2013 the Regional Court informed the applicant that his request for the destruction of any material resulting from operation “Gorilla” that fell within its control had to be dismissed. It made reference to the same grounds as those cited by the Constitutional Court for refusing to issue an order to the same effect. A similar request to the SIS was dismissed as unfounded. 39.     In a letter of 6 September 2013 the Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed its previous position that the PPS had no power to examine whether the SIS had breached the law by allegedly failing to destroy material resulting from the implementation of warrants 1 and 2. 40 .     In letters of 22 October and 29 November 2013 the Office of the Government informed the applicant that it had no power to deal with his complaint about the SIS’s refusal to destroy the said material. Although the director of the SIS was answerable to the Security Council of the Slovak Republic, there was no organ hierarchically superior to the SIS as such. Nevertheless, the applicant’s complaint had been transmitted to the Special Parliamentary Committee. The Secretariat of Parliament ultimately responded to the complaint in a letter of 13 February 2014. It was noted that the applicant had, in the meantime, been asserting his rights before the administrative-law judiciary (see the following paragraph) and concluded that, accordingly, his complaint had become moot. 41 .     On 29 January and 5 February 2014 the Supreme Court declared inadmissible two administrative-law actions by which the applicant had complained of, respectively, an interference with his rights by the SIS and the SIS’s inactivity in connection with the continued existence of material resulting from the implementation of the warrants in question. In both cases, the Supreme Court concluded that although the SIS was a State authority, it was not a body of public administration. Accordingly, its actions and omissions did not fall within the jurisdiction of the administrative courts. 42 .     In a judgment of 31 October 2014 the Regional Court dismissed an administrative-law action ( správna žaloba ) lodged by the applicant’s lawyer against the SIS’s decisions denying him access to the SIS internal regulation issued under section 17(8) of the SIS Act to govern the type of records to be kept by the service and various related modalities. The SIS had acknowledged the existence of such regulation but refused access to it on the grounds that it was classified. This decision was upheld by the courts, the final decision being given by the Constitutional Court on 15 February 2018. It noted in particular that legal rules governing the area of State security were based on trust in the intelligence held by the SIS and on supervision that was mainly political in nature. By implication, any element of judicial supervision in relation to matters such as, for example, what material fulfilled the statutory requirements for being classified was limited. 43 .     On 3 February 2015 the Special Parliamentary Committee passed resolution no. 81. It responded to a complaint by the applicant about the setting aside by the SIS of his previous complaint of 13 September 2014. The parties submitted before the Court that the latter complaint had concerned the matter of access to information and destruction of the products of the surveillance under warrant 3. The applicant for his part added that that complaint had been set aside by the SIS on procedural grounds without any position being taken on the merits. In resolution no. 81, the Special Parliamentary Committee referred to the applicant’s submissions as well as the observations in reply of the SIS and dismissed his complaint as unfounded. The text of the resolution however contains no details at all. 44 .     On 12 January 2017, in response to the applicant’s repeated requests, a judge of the Regional Court maintained a position previously taken, namely that, in the context of its supervisory jurisdiction in relation to the SIS’s surveillance operation authorised by its warrants, the Regional Court had no power to order or authorise the destruction of the material produced by that operation. The judge added that although in their observations in reply to the applicant’s request the SIS had submitted a detailed answer to his arguments, it could not be provided to him as it was classified. It could only be declassified by the SIS, which had not done so. 45 .     In a written statement made on 15 August 2017 for the purposes of the present proceedings before the Court, the President of the Regional Court confirmed that he had enquired with the judges and personnel of his court who might be concerned and had thereby established the following. A   judge who was responsible for the files concerning the three warrants had been assigned those cases on 31 March 2016. The physical files had been destroyed on 13 April 2016 and 8 March 2017. In the given period that judge had neither been invited to attend, nor had been present at, any act of destruction by the SIS of material originating from the implementation of those warrants. Moreover, she had not been privy to any confirmed information in that respect. Another judge had submitted that the SIS had not provided the Regional Court with any records obtained by implementing the warrants or with any minutes certifying the destruction of any such records. The President endorsed the submissions of his fellow judges and concluded that his court had no other documentation concerning the matter. FURTHER CONSTITUTIONAL COMPLAINTS 46 .     Meanwhile, in addition to the above efforts, the applicant had lodged a series of constitutional complaints challenging warrant 3, the failure of the SIS and the Regional Court to destroy the material resulting from the implementation of warrants 1 and 2 within their respective control, the failure of the Regional Court to supervise the implementation of those warrants, in particular after they had been annulled by the Constitutional Court (see paragraph 31 above), and the dismissal of his administrative-law actions (see paragraph 41 above). Among many other arguments, he relied on a document from the Regional Court dated 6 March 2014, in which it was observed that when the three warrants had been issued, the Regional Court had not had at its disposal the technical equipment required by law for the processing of classified information. As a result, such warrants had de   facto been produced by the agency applying for them. Moreover, he argued that there had been unjustified delays in the exercise of the Regional Court’s jurisdiction in relation to what he considered to be a duty on the part of the SIS to destroy the material in question in the presence of a judge and that there was a general lack of effective control over surveillance measures. In terms of just satisfaction in respect of non-pecuniary damage, he claimed a symbolic amount of EUR 1. 47.     The Constitutional Court joined those complaints in a single set of proceedings and determined their admissibility by a decision of 6   October   2015. It declared them admissible in so far as they concerned the proceedings before the Regional Court in relation to warrant 3 and the issuance of that warrant, and inadmissible as to the remainder. The relevant part of the Constitutional Court’s reasoning may be summarised as follows. 48.     In so far as the applicant wished to complain about the implementation of warrants 1 and 2 by the SIS, the Constitutional Court had already rejected such complaint in its decision of 6 March 2012 on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to deal with it and the applicant had failed to exhaust the ordinary remedies available (see paragraphs 30 et seq. above). As there was no new relevant information in that respect, the complaint was inadmissible. 49.     The Constitutional Court noted that, in the applicant’s own submission, the underlying fundamental motive of all his complaints was to achieve the destruction of the material resulting from the implementation of the contested warrants that fell within the control of the SIS. In that respect, the Constitutional Court acknowledged that when surveillance warrants were annulled, any recordings made as a result of them had to be destroyed, this being the responsibility of both the issuing court and the SIS. 50.     However, as noted by the SIS in its observations in reply to the applicant’s constitutional complaints, and as certified by minutes of 2 April 2008 that the SIS had submitted in support of those observations, the SIS had itself destroyed the recordings resulting from warrants 1 and 2. As to the applicant’s specific contention that the SIS had failed to discharge its duty to inform him of the destruction of that and any other products of the implementation of the three warrants, the Constitutional Court noted that the applicable statute provided for no such duty. Nevertheless, as unlawful interference by the State with the privacy of individuals was a serious matter, it was for the lawmaker to define precisely not only the conditions for the use of TMGI but also the conditions in which an individual could be apprised of the warrants for such measures and of their discontinuance. 51 .     As to the “data extracted from the recordings”, the Constitutional Court observed that the statute did not provide for their destruction. Under section   17(6) of the SIS Act, such material had to be deposited by the SIS “in a way that excluded access to it by anyone”. It was accordingly inadmissible to use that material for any official purpose and it could not obtain a lawful status and be used as evidence in any proceedings before public authorities in the future. Therefore, the relevant part of the applicant’s constitutional complaints had become moot and was accordingly manifestly ill-founded. 52 .     In the course of the proceedings on the merits, on 24 November 2015, the applicant’s lawyer was allowed to consult a redacted version of the minutes of 4 February 2008 concerning the destruction of the primary material originating from the implementation of warrant 1 and warrant 2. This document has not been made available to the Court. The applicant submitted that the minutes indicated that a certain number of data storage media containing material produced in the course of the implementation of the two warrants had been destroyed, but provided no details whatsoever. 53 .     Moreover, the Regional Court, as the respondent to the admissible part of the applicant’s constitutional complaints, submitted observations in reply, in which it stated inter alia that the SIS had applied for warrant 3 because it had considered it necessary to be able to gather information about “matters susceptible seriously to jeopardise or damage the economic interests of the Slovak Republic”. In the same observations, the Regional Court further submitted: “[The SIS] had not advised the [Regional] court about the specific matters concerned. [The SIS] indeed did not submit to the [Regional] court any records obtained by [implementing the warrant] or minutes of the destruction of any records so obtained. ... ... it is necessary to observe that the Regional Court issued the warrant in a   procedure that was common at that time, without proper reasoning, though with reference to the application [by the entity making it] and under the respective provisions of the [PP Act]. The procedure mentioned was not governed by any procedural rules at the relevant time.” 54 .     The merits of the admissible part of the complaint were determined in a constitutional judgment of 2 February 2016. Referring to its conclusions in its judgment of 20 November 2012 as regards warrants 1 and   2, the Constitutional Court found a violation of a number of the applicant’s rights, including those under Articles 6 and 8 (private life) of the Convention, and annulled warrant 3. 55 .     In particular, the Constitutional Court noted that the Regional Court had issued warrant 3 despite the fact that the SIS’s application for it had failed to define the specific TMGI to be used or the specific purpose that it would serve. Its mere reference to the applicable statutory provisions had been insufficient in that context. Moreover, the Regional Court had failed to examine whether it had been impossible to achieve the aim of warrant 3 by other less intrusive means and to address the question whether the warrant could be implemented also on premises that were inaccessible to the public. In addition, the indication of the time frame for the statutory duty on the part of the SIS to inform the court whether the reasons for warrant 3 persisted had been drafted unclearly. On those grounds, the Constitutional Court found warrant 3 unlawful and unjustified. Furthermore, it could not be established from warrant 3 which specific judge had issued it. The Constitutional Court considered this to be a particularly serious shortcoming, rendering it impossible to establish whether the warrant had actually been issued by a lawful judge. 56 .     In so far as the primary and derivative material resulting from the implementation of the contested warrant had not yet been destroyed, the Constitutional Court held that, in the exercise of the statutory duty of the Regional Court to supervise the implementation of surveillance warrants it had issued, it was incumbent on the latter to ensure that the SIS destroyed any primary material resulting from it. The derivative material had to be handled as specified in paragraph 51 above. As any duties on the part of the Regional Court in this context stemmed directly from the statute, there was no need for the Constitutional Court to issue any orders in that respect. Referring to the same grounds, the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s claim that there had been unjustified delays in the exercise of the Regional Court’s jurisdiction in this matter. 57 .     As to the ruling concerning the applicant’s costs, the Constitutional Court applied the formula as specified in paragraph 36 above, compensating the applicant for three “acts of legal assistance” in the constitutional proceedings. By implication, it dismissed his claim in respect of other acts in the constitutional proceedings (e.g. procedural submissions) and beyond (e.g.   correspondence with other authorities). ACTION FOR PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY 58.     In addition to the above-mentioned actions, on 14 April 2014 the applicant lodged an action against the SIS with the Bratislava I District Court. Relying on the Constitutional Court’s decision and judgment of 6   March and 20 November 2012 (see paragraphs 30 and 31 above), the SL Act and the legal rules concerning protection of personal integrity (Article   11 et seq. of the Civil Code), he pointed out that warrants 1 and 2 had been quashed as unconstitutional and sought orders obliging the respondent to refrain from making any use of and to destroy any material within its control resulting from the implementation of warrants 1 and 2. In the course of the proceedings he extended the action to the material resulting from the implementation of warrant 3, relying on the constitutional judgment of 2 February 2016 (see paragraph 54 above). 59 .     The action was first dismissed by the District Court in a judgment of 23 March 2017, which was however reversed by the Regional Court on 21   January 2020, following an appeal by the applicant. The declaratory ruling thus adopted by the Regional Court was that, by unjustified use of the TMGI as previously authorised by the three warrants and by unjustified production of intelligence material resulting from that use of the TMGI, the SIS had violated the applicant’s right to protection of personal integrity. The courts’ reasoning may be summarised as follows. 60 .     In so far as the applicant had relied on the SL Act, in the given context the SIS had not been involved in the capacity of a body of public administration such as to provide for standing to be sued under that Act. The claim based on it therefore fell outside its purview. 61.     To the extent that the applicant had based his claim on the rules governing protection of personal integrity, irrespective of the fact that at the time of their implementation the respective warrants were valid, the Constitutional Court’s subsequent finding that they had been issued unlawfully and in violation of the applicant’s rights meant that their implementation too had constituted an unlawful interference with his rights. The same was true for the production of the material in question. 62 .     As to any consequences to be drawn from the said ruling, it was noted that the applicant had claimed no compensation in respect of non ‑ pecuniary damage. In so far as he was seeking orders requiring the SIS to refrain from using, and to destroy, any and all material resulting from the implementation of the three warrants, the particulars of his claim lacked precision, especially as regards the definition of the material concerned. This shortcoming inherently could not be rectified since, in view of the nature of the tasks entrusted to the SIS, it was impossible for the applicant to do so. The same limitations applied to the court and to any judicial enforcement officer who would be called upon to ensure enforcement of the judgment. The relevant part of the claim, therefore, could not serve as a basis for an enforceable ruling and no such ruling could be made. 63.     Moreover, as to the primary material originating from warrants 1 and   2, the claim for its destruction had become moot in view of the actual destruction of that material in the meantime. That material had been destroyed as having no use, an act which did not presuppose the presence of a judge (section 7(4) of the PP Act). The constitutional judgments annulling the respective warrants as unlawful had not intervened until later. It had therefore been out of the question to have the respective material destroyed in the presence of a judge, as otherwise required by section 7(3) of the PP   Act. 64.     As regards the material originating from warrant 3, it had been deposited by the SIS in accordance with section 17(3) of the SIS Act and an ordinary court had no jurisdiction to order the SIS to treat it differently. 65.     No ordinary appeal lies against the Regional Court’s judgment. ACTION TAKEN BY THE APPLICANT’S ASSOCIATE 66.     In his submissions before the Court, the applicant has also referred to the efforts of the other person concerned (see paragraph 6 above) as follows. On the assumption of being the other addressee of warrant 2 and being concerned by the implementation of warrants 1 and 2, the applicant’s associate filed a similar action against the SIS, seeking orders requiring the respondent to refrain from making any use of, and to destroy, any material resulting from the implementation of those warrants. 67 .     In the course of its examination, the Regional Court gave a judgment (of 21 September 2017) in which it held, inter alia , that the Special Parliamentary Committee had no power to decide on any individual claims against the SIS for the protection of personal integrity and for compensation in respect of non-pecuniary damage resulting from any erroneous official conduct of the SIS, the supervision it provided being of no more than an abstract nature. The action is ongoing. RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT 68 .     Under section 3: “1.     [TMGI] may only be used where it is necessary in a democratic society for ensuring the safety or defence of the State, the prevention or investigation of crime or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. The use of [TMGI] may limit human rights or fundamental freedoms only to an extent that is necessary and not for longer than is unavoidable for the attainment of the statutorily recognised goal which they pursue. 2.     Information obtained by way of [TMGI] may be used exclusively for the attainment of a goal in the discharge of the functions of the State, which is compatible with the requirements of [the preceding] subsection.” 69.     The relevant provisions of section 4 provide: “1.     [TMGI] may] only be used upon a prior written warrant issued by the lawful judge. ... 3.     An application for a warrant for the use of [TMGI] ... must specify: (a)   the type of [TMGI] that is to be used, the place and proposed duration of its use and the person against whom it is to be used, (b)   that it has previously been futile or significantly more difficult to investigate and document the activity on account of which the application is made, (c)     reasons for the use of the TMGI. ... 6.     The issuing judge is duty bound systematically to examine the continued existence of the reasons for the use of the [TMGI]. If those reasons cease to exist, the judge is duty bound to decide without delay on the termination of their use.” 70.     Relevant parts of section 7 read as follows: “3.     If [TMGI] has been used in violation of this Act, no record or other outcome thus obtained or produced may be used in evidence ... other than in criminal or disciplinary proceedings against the person who unlawfully produced or ordered the production of such record. An unlawfully obtained record or other outcome must be destroyed in the presence of a lawful judge competent to issue a warrant [for the use of the TMGI]] within twenty-four hours of the unlawful use of the [TMGI]. 4.     If the use of [TMGI] leads to the production of a   record and it is later established that no facts have been revealed thereby that are of relevance to the fulfilment of the statutorily determined purpose of the use of such means, the State body which produced the record shall be duty bound to destroy it without delay. 5.     The destruction of a record or other outcome shall be documented in written minutes, indicating ... personal data concerning the lawful judge who was present at the act of destruction .... Prior to the destruction, the record or other outcome ... may neither be copied nor transcribed in written or any other form.” 71 .     Section 8 includes specific legislative references providing as follows: “Use of [TMGI] and the production or copying of a record [of such use] in violation of this Act shall give rise to liability on the part of the State [under the respective legislation on State liability] as well as of the person who has breached the law [under the respective provisions of the Criminal Code and the civil-law provisions on protection of personal integrity] by ordering, approving or otherwise committing unlawful behaviour.” 72 .     By way of an amendment (Law no. 404/2015 Coll.), which entered into force on 1 January 2016, section 8a was introduced into the Act. It provides for the creation of a commission, under the authority of the Parliament, for supervision of the use of TMGI (subsection 1). The commission would carry out periodical yearly reviews and occasional reviews at any time by own initiative, at the request by the Special Parliamentary Committ