In a judgment delivered at Strasbourg on 25 March 1998 in the case of Kopp v. Switzerland, the
European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that the monitoring of Mr Kopp’s law firm’s
telephone lines had breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights1 (right to
respect for private life). In accordance with Article 50 of the Convention, the Court also
unanimously ordered the respondent State to pay the applicant, within three months, fifteen
thousand Swiss francs in reimbursement of costs and expenses.
The judgment was read out in open court by Mr Rudolf Bernhardt, the Vice-President of the Court.