Court Upholds Conviction for Intercepting Private Conversation

The Court of Appeal has upheld a conviction for intercepting the content of a private communication, ruling that recording a conversation without the knowledge and consent of the other participants constitutes monitoring of a 'private communication', according to a decision dated February 25, 2026.

The case concerned the appellant's recording of a meeting held on March 21, 2016, at the offices of a Cypriot Organization, in which members of the board of directors participated. The appellant participated by telephone, and the meeting was organized to allow him to respond to financial issues that had arisen from an internal audit. The discussion lasted almost two hours, without the other participants knowing it was being recorded.

The appellant was eventually dismissed in June 2016 and filed a lawsuit against the Organization in a foreign court, claiming damages. The existence of the recording became known when it was submitted in the legal proceedings by the appellant.

The first instance court convicted the defendant for intercepting a private conversation. The Court of Appeal rejected the appellant's claims and upheld the first instance decision, emphasizing that the concept of private communication is not limited to matters of personal life, but concerns the manner in which it is conducted and its confidentiality.

The Court of Appeal recalled that the right to privacy of communication is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.