Supreme Court hears challenge to police phone surveillance

Finland’s Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal in a case concerning the telecommunications surveillance of Elokapina activists’ phones during the World Rally Championship rally in Jyväskylä in summer 2024, Yle reports.

Three activists sought to overturn a decision by the Turku Court of Appeal, which had rejected their complaints about the surveillance. The Supreme Court has so far granted leave to appeal to one of the applicants.

The case concerns the conditions for telecommunications surveillance carried out under the Police Act to prevent a crime.

Police monitored the phones of four Elokapina activists after suspecting that they were planning aggravated criminal damage during the rally. The suspicion was based on Elokapina’s rally protests in the previous two years.

Telecommunications surveillance allows police to obtain a phone’s location data and monitor who sends messages or makes calls to the phone.

The Pirkanmaa District Court granted the surveillance warrants. Three activists appealed to the Turku Court of Appeal, arguing that police lacked sufficient grounds for the surveillance. The Court of Appeal rejected their complaints in November 2025.