‘Grande Oriente d’Italia prevails in court’

    

The Grand Orient of Italy has won its court case against the government of that nation—for now—according to a ruling handed down last Thursday by the European Court of Human Rights that judged police searches and seizures of private documents were illegal and not “necessary in a democratic society.”

The Masonic Grand Orient sued Italy after several lodges were raided and had property, including membership lists, confiscated in 2017 as part of a government investigation of suspected links between Freemasonry and the Mafia. The confusing “P2” scandal was decades ago, and this progress helps erase its shadow.

The ECHR press release concerning this December 19 judgment says:

The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned a search of a Masonic association’s premises ordered in the context of a parliamentary inquiry into the Mafia. Paper and digital documents, in particular a list of names and personal data of more than 6,000 members of the association, were seized during the search.

The Court found that there had been a lack of evidence or a reasonable suspicion of involvement in the matter being investigated which would have been sufficient to justify such a wide-ranging and indeterminate measure. Nor had the shortcomings in the search order been offset by sufficient counterbalancing guarantees, for example by an independent and impartial review. Indeed, as the system in Italy currently stands, Parliament has exclusive jurisdiction to rule on the validity of its decisions.

The Court concluded that such a significant interference with the applicant association’s rights, involving the authorities examining and retaining a wide range of documents, including confidential information, had not been “in accordance with the law.” Nor had it been “necessary in a democratic society.”

The European Court of Human Rights was established by the Council of Europe in 1959 to address violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.

The court’s findings of facts include:

The applicant is a Masonic association registered under Italian law, Grande Oriente d’Italia. It was founded in 1805 and groups together several lodges.

In 2013 the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the phenomenon of mafias and other criminal associations, including foreign ones (Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno delle mafie e sulle altre associazioni criminali anche straniere) was set up. It was mandated, among other things, to conduct an inquiry into relations between the Mafia and Freemasonry because of revelations emerging from various criminal proceedings.

On several occasions in 2016 the parliamentary commission of inquiry asked Dr. Bisi, the Grand Master of the applicant association, to provide a list of its lodges’ members. He repeatedly refused, citing confidentiality. He observed that the request was “a fishing expedition” as it neither mentioned ongoing investigations, nor any specific crimes allegedly committed by members of the association. He again refused to disclose names when summoned as a witness in January 2017.

The parliamentary commission eventually, in March 2017, ordered a search of the applicant association’s premises. The search aimed at obtaining a list of anyone who belonged or had belonged to a Masonic lodge of Calabria or Sicily starting from 1990, with their rank and role, as well as information about all the lodges of Calabria and Sicily which had been dissolved or suspended from 1990 onwards, including the names of all their members and their personal files, any investigations carried out and decisions taken.

The applicant association’s premises, including its archives, the library, and the personal residence of the Grand Master, and several computers were searched. It resulted in the seizure of numerous paper and digital documents, including lists of approximately 6,000 persons registered with the applicant association, as well as hard disks, flash drives and computers.

The applicant association unsuccessfully challenged the search and seizure. The parliamentary commission made no ruling on a request to reconsider the search order under its own procedures, while the prosecuting authorities dismissed an application for a judicial review by the Constitutional Court of a conflict of jurisdiction between the powers of the State, and discontinued the investigation into a criminal complaint lodged by the applicant association.

The Grand Orient’s travails might not be over, however, as this court’s ruling is not necessarily final. For ninety days after December 19, “any party may request the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court,” where a five-judge panel would decide if this case needs another look. If it rules further examination is required, the panel eventually would issue the final judgment. But if such a request is refused, this current ruling will stand, and will be sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for execution. 

Congratulazioni, fratelli!