The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday condemned Italy for a 2017 search of the archives of Grande Oriente d’Italia, during which more than 6,000 names of Freemasons were seized. Founded in 1805, the Grande Oriente d’Italia masonic association was raided as part of an investigation ordered by a parliamentary commission into possible links between the mafia and masonry. The search was successful “the seizure of numerous paper and digital documents, including lists listing around 6,000 people, (…) as well as hard drives, USB keys and computers”recalls the ECHR in a press release.
In their judgment, the Strasbourg judges found that this search and seizure had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to respect for private life. They ruled that the search warrant was not sufficiently justified: “in particular, there was neither proof nor plausible reason to suspect that the applicant association was involved in the facts investigated”. Consequently, the ECHR orders Italy to pay Grande Oriente d’Italia 9,600 euros for moral damage and 5,344 euros for costs and expenses.
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