the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova recognizes this right, in accordance with the provisions of Article 28, and establishes that the State respects and protects intimate, family and private life. One of the most important topics of 2019, which provoked wide-ranging discussions at the societal level, is the application of special investigative measures by law enforcement agencies, actions that involve essential interference in respecting private and family life. According to the data of the General Prosecutor's Office, within 50,920 criminal cases under management in 2019, the prosecutors submitted to the investigating judges 4,261 requests to authorize the special investigative measures. Of these, only 38 were rejected, which means that approximately 99% of prosecutors' requests for the application of special investigative measures were met by judges. The most frequent special measures, authorized and carried out during the criminal investigation were:  interception and recording of communications and images - 2,812 cases (year 2018 - 3,928);  collecting information from electronic communications service providers - 707 (year 2018 - 770);  documentation using technical methods and means, as well as location or tracking through the global positioning system (GPS) or other technical means - 507 (year 2018 - 594);  monitoring or control of financial transactions and access to financial information - 78 (year 2018 - 41);  research of the domicile and / or installation in it of the devices that ensure the surveillance and audio and video recording, of the photography and filming ones - 90 (year 2018 - 148);  home supervision by using the technical means that ensure registration - 13 (year 2018 - 26);  detaining, researching, handing over, searching or raising postal items - 4; 25