Οι ειδικές ανακριτικές πράξεις του άρθρου 253Α Κ.Π.Δ. παρ. 1, εδ. γ και δ για την αντιμετώπιση του οργανωμένου εγκλήματος και της τρομοκρατίας

Abstract

The title of this paper is «The special interrogational techniques of the article 253A, par. 1, quotation (c) and (d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for combating organised crime and terrorism». It aims at describing the techniques themselves as well as dealing with the issues arising from their application within the Greek legal order. It is not contested that during the past years, the confrontation of both organised crime and terrorism related issues has become a matter of great importance for most countries all over the world. In particular, terrorism has grown a major priority for the international community following the dreadful terrorist attacks that took place in the U.S.A, in September 2001. A thorough look into the increase of organised criminality rate indicates that criminal activity is being burgeoned both on national as well as on international level. Moreover, organised crime is mainly characterised by the following peculiarities: sophisticated infrastructure, cross border activity, apportionment of responsibilities and other ways of action that used to be unusual for the so-called «traditional» criminal. As a result, international community searched intensively for effective ways of action in order to prevent and suppress organised crime. The first significant reaction was the conclusion of the Palermo Treaty, signed by many countries including Greece. Responding to the commitments deriving from the Treaty, Greece adopted Law 2928/2001, adding a new article into the Code of Penal Procedure, article 253A, titled «Special interrogational techniques». These techniques were first used in cases of organised crime. Three years later, Greece adopted Law 3251/2004 integrating into the Greek national law the framework decisions concerning the European Arrest Warrant and terrorism confrontation. Under its provisions, the special interrogational techniques of article 253A were also applied for the terrorist acts described in article 187A of Penal Code. However, a major concern relates to the restrictions that these techniques may cause to personal liberties and rights. The present paper, which is divided into three separate chapters, presents analytically two out of five special interrogational techniques referred in article 253A i.e.: a) Revocation of communication cover b) Record of activity (image or/and voice) Part of this paper deals with the definitions of terrorism and organised crime, while going through the potential links between these two phenomena. A thorough presentation of all five special interrogational techniques themselves is also included, mainly regarding their main characteristics and the prerequisites, for their conduct , while it is also made an analytical reference to the gaps and deficiencies of the existing legal framework that regulates these techniques. Moreover, a comprehensive description of the probative restrictions is also included, while a significant part of the paper is devoted to the relationship between the conduct of the special interrogational techniques and the potential violation of fundamental rights of the individual in the light of both the Greek constitution and the European Convention for Human Rights. Needless to say that this paper does not aim to go through the general topic of crime suppression, so it is mainly limited to a presentation of these techniques as tools of the confrontation of both terrorism and organised crime. Lastly, the paper indicates that we should mainly focus on the achievement of a balance between security and freedom, which will guarantee two important issues: the protection of our society from the threat deriving from the phenomena of organised crime and terrorism but also the preservation of people’s vested rights from unauthorized assumption.