Legal Interventions: Wiretaps, Mail Seizures, and Property Searches

Legal Interventions: Telephone Communications

The doctrine and jurisprudence have largely addressed the omissions of the legislature regarding telephone communications. Such interventions may involve listening to or recording conversations, or simply monitoring calls made to or from a telephone. Once an order is issued, it shall be submitted directly to the telephone service provider for implementation. The outcome of the intervention must be presented to the court at the time ordered by the judge, and all relevant documentary data, along with any information for media dissemination, must be submitted.

Legal Interventions: Opening of Mail

Correspondence seized and referred to the judicial authority shall be opened for its content. This must be done at the court's premises and in the presence of the individual concerned. The opening must be made by the judge himself. The judge shall proceed to read it privately, taking notes necessary for any investigative steps warranted by the content.

Legal Interventions: Entry and Search of Enclosed Places

To uncover the circumstances of a crime, or to apprehend a person or seize instruments of crime, it may be appropriate to enter an enclosed area – an isolated place that an individual has sought to keep private by restricting access. If the owner consents to the diligence and authorizes entry and search, the police or the Prosecutor may proceed under their own authority without a prior court order. Nor is judicial authorization necessary when entry occurs as a result of pursuing an offender caught in flagrante delicto. Article 18.2 of the EC affords special protection to the home and prohibits access against the occupant's will, except in cases of in flagrante delicto or by judicial resolution.

Without consent, a resolution in the form of a judicial order will be required, which must precisely determine the place and the person or thing being sought for entry and search. The order shall specify the evidence indicating that the accused is present or that there are items that can aid in the discovery or verification of the crime. The procedure and search can only be authorized in open criminal proceedings. Judicial presence is a requirement. The secretary must be present, and entry may be made using force if necessary. The diligence, when conducted in a person's home, will usually take place during the day; it can only be performed at night when the urgency of the case requires it. The entry and search shall be conducted by the same judge who ordered it, but the judge may also instruct the Judicial Police to carry it out. The secretary shall keep an appropriate record of the proceedings, and the results shall be signed by all present.