Police and Security, Vol. 34 No. 4, 2025.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.59245/ps.34.4.2
Accidental Findings During Special Evidentiary Action of Surveillance and Interception of Telephone Conversations - Croatian Law and European Legal Standards
Filip Škorić
; Policijski nacionalni ured za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta, Služba za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta Osijek, Hrvatska
Ante Novokmet
; Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Pravni fakultet Osijek, Hrvatska
Abstract
Remote surveillance and technical recording of telephone conversations and other communications is
one of the special evidentiary measures which, due to its simplicity of implementation, has the highest
prevalence of application in detecting and finding perpetrators associated with criminal offences
of corruption and organised crime. Although efficient from the perspective of criminal prosecution
effectiveness, it, like all other special evidentiary measures, represents a significant limitation of the
fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. In the context of its application, the so-called accidental
findings, i.e. data and information about another criminal offence and perpetrator in relation to which
the aforementioned special evidentiary measure was not initially determined, appear to be particularly
delicate, since the gained data and information can be used as evidence in criminal proceedings for that
other criminal offence. Therefore, this paper first explains the legal nature of accidental findings obtained
through the application of the special evidentiary measure of remote surveillance and technical
recording of telephone conversations and other communications. It then considers the positive legal
standards developed in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional
Court of the Republic of Croatia on the legal conditions that must be met for their admissibility as
evidence in criminal proceedings. In the central part of the paper, the current normative framework of
the Criminal Procedure Act is critically analysed in the part regulating in accidental findings. Based on
the analysis of domestic judicial practice on the evidentiary usability of accidental findings in criminal
proceedings, conclusions are drawn about the compliance of the Croatian regulatory framework with
the researched positive legal standards.
Keywords
remote surveillance; technical recording of telephone conversations; special evidentiary measures; criminal procedure; accidental findings
Hrčak ID:
339592
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2025.
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