Unlawful residential research and the seizure of personal belongings violated the right to privacy and respect of home.
JUDGMENT
Bože v. Latvia 18-5-2017 (no. 40927/05)
SUMMARY
Residential search and seizure. Investigation and seizure carried out in the applicant’s apartment on the grounds that he was selling an unauthorized medicine for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis and cancer through the Internet. The actions of the authorities in his home were not based on law. The ECtHR has condemned Latvia for violating Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence).
PROVISION
Article 8
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Valdis Boze, is a Latvian national who was born in 1958 and lives in Riga. The case concerned his complaint about a search and seizure in his apartment.
In June 2004 the police carried out an undercover investigation into an allegation that Mr Boze was selling unlicensed medicine for treating HIV, hepatitis and cancer via the Internet. The undercover officers arranged to meet Mr Boze near his apartment and bought some of the medicine. They immediately told him about the operation and proceeded to carry out an inspection of his apartment. Mr Boze was informed that the inspection of his home was to be carried out under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The inspection, lasting five hours, resulted in the seizure of a number of items, including Mr Boze’s computer and computer hard drive. He was subsequently fined in two sets of administrative proceedings for manufacturing and selling unauthorised pharmaceutical products. In the meantime, Mr Boze had submitted various complaints to both the police and prosecuting authorities, alleging that the inspection had amounted to a search and that this search had been unlawful. All his complaints were however dismissed, the authorities finding that the inspection and seizure had been in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law on the Police.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Relying in particular on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, the home and the correspondence), Mr Boze alleged that the search of his apartment and the seizure of his personal belongings were not authorised by law.
Violation of Article 8
Just satisfaction: 3,000 euros (EUR) (non-pecuniary damage)
