Ministry of Communications granted the FSB access to postal items without the court decision

On July 6, 2010 the Ministry of Justice registered the order #65 from the Ministry of Communications which give the Russian secret services the right to open and inspect postal items without the decision of a court, starting from July 21. Secret services are granted access to all the personal electronic information databases of the state postal service. Post offices are planned to be equipped with special isolated rooms for the inspection of the postal items of average citizens. None of these actions will require a court order.

The order does not even mention that, according to Russian law, any inspection of post should be made after a court decision only. The Russian Constitution proclaims “the right to privacy of correspondence, of telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other messages.”

A decree of Russia’s Supreme Court of 2000 ruled that postal operators may grant access to personal postal items for special service organizations only in cases where they are provided with the necessary documents from a court. Any other demands have no legal basis and contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Communications insists that order #65 is “purely technical”; it has passed legal expertise and does not contradict the Constitution. The press-secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Elena Lashkina, said that “hysteria over the document is absolutely groundless” and the new rules are merely specifying the procedures prescribed by the Operational-Investigative Activity Act of 1995, informed Intefax news agency.

The Act permits that, in case of the urgent necessity to prevent a crime against the national, military, economical or ecological security of the Russian Federation, a dedicated authority of a special service agency to open and inspect mail and e-mail, and to tap phones is possible with the compulsory notification of a court within 24 hours, and the obtaining of a judicial decision within 48 hours – otherwise stopping such actions altogether.

The news about the new order caused a sensation in the Russian media, and the reaction of most experts is predictably negative. Human rights activists have threatened to sue the Ministry of Communications and prepare to file a claim to the Supreme Court.

Sources: