Human rights – Right to respect for private and family life. There had been a violation of art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights by the police's retention of the applicant's data, as there was no pressing need for it. The European Court of Human Rights held that there were reasons to substitute its own assessment of the for that of the competent national authorities, including the absence of effective safeguards where the personal data revealed political opinions which attracted a heightened level of protection.