User:SPIAAZ/Zakharov v. Russia

Case
In 2003, editor Roman Zakharov brought judicial proceeding against three mobile network operators, claiming that there had been a violation of his right to the privacy of his communications. He maintained that Russia's SORM system (surveillance equipment installed at mobile phone companies) enables unrestricted interception of all telephone communications by the security services without prior judicial authorization. The claim was rejected on the grounds that Zakharov did not prove to be a victim of such an interception himself. The rejection was upheld in 2006.

In 2006, Zakharov lodged a case with the ECtHR. He relied on Article 8 (right to privacy), arguing that Russia's national law permitted the security services to intercept, through technical means, any person's communications without obtaining prior judicial authorization. He further relied on Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), complaining that he had no effective legal remedy at national level to challenge that legislation.

'Russia maintained that Zakharov could not be considered a victim because Orange Slovensko, a. s. v. Slovakia'' upheld that private companies can install interception equipment without violating the Convention. Furthermore, Russia argued that an applicant had to demonstrate a "reasonable likelihood" that their private life was being documented and recorded by security agencies. Exceptions to this rule were permissible only in the most unique of circumstances. Since Zakharov failed to produce any evidence to prove that he was being spied upon, Russia claimed that he did not meet the "reasonable likelihood" criteria. Finally, Russia argued that Zakharov did not go through all of the national channels available to him before appealing to the European Court of Human Rights. '''