CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 19 décembre 2024

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sD4B5322E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:justify } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s65B66A85 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .s97EB40D9 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s8B6C6D43 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Legal summary May 2025 Grande Oriente d'Italia v. Italy (referral) - 29550/17 Judgment 19.12.2024 [Section I] Article 8 Article 8-1 Respect for correspondence Search of a Masonic association’s premises ordered by a parliamentary commission of inquiry and seizure of large number of paper, and digital documents, including the name and personal data of the association’s members: case referred to the Grand Chamber The case concerns the search of an Italian Masonic association’s premises (a Masonic lodge) ordered by a parliamentary commission of inquiry and the seizure of a large number of paper and digital documents, including a list with the names and personal data of more than 6,000 of the association’s members. The search was ordered in the context of an investigation into the relations between the Mafia and the Freemasonry and the potential Mafia infiltration of masonic lodges. In a judgment delivered on 19   December 2024, a Chamber of the Court held, unanimously, that there had been violation of Article   8 of the Convention given the lack of evidence or a reasonable suspicion of the applicant’s involvement in the matter under investigation, capable of justifying the search order, its wide and indeterminate scope, and the absence of sufficient counterbalancing guarantees, in particular of an independent and impartial review of the contested measure. Accordingly, it found that the impugned measure was held to not be “in accordance with the law” nor “necessary in a democratic society”. The Court also held, by six votes to one, there was no need to examine the admissibility and merits of the applicant’s complaints under Articles   11 and   13 as it had dealt with the main legal questions raised by the case. On 28   April 2025 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the Government’s request.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. To access legal summaries in English or French click here . For non-official translations into other languages click here .