Seizure and Evidentiary Use of Accused's Diary in Property and Sexual Offense Investigations

The appellate court addressed the seizure and potential evidentiary use of an accused person's diary in connection with investigations into property offenses against her and sexual offenses against her partner. The court reasoned that while a diary falls under the strong protection of privacy (Art. 13 para. 1 BV and Art. 8 para. 1 EMRK), its seizure is permissible under procedural law ($\S\S 114$ f. StPO) because the diary might contain evidence relevant to the ongoing investigations, including potential "accidental findings" regarding previously unknown criminal acts, and its relevance to the partner's sexual offense investigation was also established. The court further found that despite the diary's highly personal therapeutic context, its content was likely related to concrete criminal actions, and the public interest in investigating serious offenses, including those against sexual integrity, outweighed the accused's private interest in non-disclosure, thus validating both the seizure and future evidentiary use without infringing upon the core of the privacy protection.