EncroChat: French appeal arising from Northern Irish prosecution fails over missing documents
On 14 April 2026 the French Court of Cassation declared an EncroChat appeal inadmissible. The applicant, prosecuted in Northern Ireland, had not supplied necessary documents and French translations. The ruling concerns access to this French procedure rather than the substantive lawfulness of interception.
The anonymised applicant L. Z. sought annulment of documents from the French EncroChat investigation in March 2025. According to the judgment, he had faced proceedings in Northern Ireland since September 2020 for offences including drug offences, attempted murder and criminal association. British investigators had received French data under a European Investigation Order. The account Cliffrocket had been attributed to him.
In case 25-86.534 he argued that a person prosecuted abroad using French evidence must have access to a French court. The court referred to conditions established in its judgment of 16 September 2025: applicants must demonstrate their interest and provide relevant documents connecting the challenged French measures with the European Investigation Order.
As both his application and the challenged decision predated that framework ruling, he could supplement the file on appeal. Nevertheless, French translations of annexes, including investigation orders, and records transcribing the incriminating messages were missing. The appeal was therefore inadmissible.
