Constitutional Court and fundamental rights in criminal proceedings 2024: privacy, home and fair trial
2024 Constitutional Court rulings on the tension between criminal investigation and fundamental rights: Art. 18 CE (privacy, home, communications secrecy) and Art. 24 CE (effective judicial protection). STC 14/2024, STC 89/2024 and STC 201/2023.
Three key 2024 TC rulings
STC 14/2024 (Communications interception): Orders must contain the judge's own proportionality assessment; mere remission to the police request is insufficient. Violation = all derived evidence excluded (Art. 11.1 LOPJ fruit-of-the-poisoned-tree doctrine). Practice: always review the authorisation order for genuine judicial reasoning.
STC 89/2024 (Home search consent): Consent given while handcuffed, surrounded by officers, without being informed of the right to refuse is not free and voluntary under Art. 18.2 CE. Practice: document circumstances of alleged consent (restrained? number of officers? right to refuse communicated?). Challenge in investigation phase.
STC 201/2023 (Presumption of innocence): Victim testimony as sole prosecution evidence requires the court to specifically address: subjective credibility (no motive to lie), corroboration by peripheral evidence, and consistency throughout proceedings. Failure to address defence challenges to credibility = Art. 24 CE violation. Practice: document all credibility challenges for appeal and amparo strategy.
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