WIEDER AND GUARNIERI v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
In the case of Wieder and Guarnieriv. the United Kingdom,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a
Chamber composed of:
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President,
Tim Eicke,
Faris Vehabović,
Branko Lubarda,
Anja Seibert-Fohr,
Ana Maria Guerra Martins,
Anne Louise Bormann, judges,
and Ilse Freiwirth, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the applications (nos. 64371/16 and 64407/16) against the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Court under
Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by an American national,
Mr Joshua Wieder, and an Italian national, Mr Claudio Guarnieri, on the
various dates indicated in the appended table;
the decision to give notice to the United Kingdom Government (“the
Government”) of the complaints concerning Articles 8, 10 and 13 of the
Convention;
the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the
observations in reply submitted by the applicants;
the comments submitted by Media Defence, which was granted leave to
intervene by the President of the Section;
Having deliberated in private on 11 July 2023,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
INTRODUCTION
1. The principal issue to be addressed in the present case is whether, for
the purposes of a complaint under Article 8 of the Convention, persons
outside a Contracting State fall within its territorial jurisdiction if their
electronic communications were (or were at risk of being) intercepted,
searched and examined by that State’s intelligence agencies operating within
its borders.
THE FACTS
2. The applicant in application no. 64371/16 (“the first applicant”),
Mr Joshua Wieder, is a national of the United States of America who was
born in 1984 and lives in Cloud Lake, Florida. The applicant in application
no. 64407/16 (“the second applicant”), Mr Claudio Guarnieri, is an Italian
national, who was born in 1987 and lives in Berlin, Germany. Both applicants
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