text stringlengths 332 3.61k | label int64 0 12 |
|---|---|
41. The Government argued that the applicant had lost her victim status. In particular, they noted that following the accident of 30 November 1998, the criminal investigation had been carried out and the responsible persons had been identified, charged and convicted, whereas the other persons had been subjected to a disciplinary sanction. Additionally, the domestic courts, having found the local authorities liable, had awarded the applicant damages. Although that judgment had been partly quashed on appeal, the applicant's award had been upheld. Furthermore, neither the judgment nor the Court of Appeal's decision had been appealed against by the applicant who, on the other hand, sought their enforcement. In the Government's view, the above facts show that the domestic authorities had expressly acknowledged and afforded the applicant redress for the breach of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
41. The applicants complained that the security forces had been responsible for the disappearance of their relatives, who, in their opinion, should be presumed dead in breach of Article <mask> of the Convention. Under the same provision they also submitted that the national authorities had failed to carry out a meaningful investigation into their relatives’ disappearance. Article 2 of the Convention reads as follows: | 4 |
102. The Government maintained that the prosecutor had conducted an investigation which was in compliance with the requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention. He had not ignored any small detail or evidence and had conducted the entire investigation swiftly within one year. The aim of the investigation had been to secure the effective implementation of the domestic law and to ensure the accountability of the State agents in respect of the deaths. | 4 |
80. The applicants contested the Government’s statement as incorrect. They pointed out that in fact they had lodged a court complaint about the authorities’ failure to carry out an effective investigation into the events of 27 October 2001, which had yielded no results. The applicants contended in this connection that they were not required to pursue that remedy, since it was ineffective and, in particular, incapable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible, as required by the Court’s settled case-law in relation to complaints under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
73. The applicants complained that the force used by the prison officers to immobilise their son had been neither absolutely necessary nor strictly proportionate for the purposes of Article <mask> of the Convention, and that the State had failed in its positive obligation under that provision to protect their son’s life by administering treatment capable of averting a fatal outcome. Article 2 provides: | 4 |
43. The applicants complained under Article <mask> of the Convention that the use of force by the security forces against Murat Bektaş and Erdinç Arslan had been disproportionate and had resulted in their unlawful killing. They further maintained under the same head that the investigation and the criminal trial had been flawed and ineffective. They contended in this connection that the acquittal of Nurettin Bülbül, Fevzi Mustan and Muammer Topaç, and the deferral of the execution of the sentences imposed on Nurettin Bülbül, Haydar Erol, Eyüp Yalçınkaya and Ali Erdurucan, had undermined the deterrent role of the judicial system in preventing violations of the right to life. | 4 |
25. The Government contended that a thorough and effective investigation had been carried out in the present case, in accordance with the procedural requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention. More than 200 witnesses had been heard, a number of expert reports made (including an autopsy, a post-mortem psychiatric report and a report on the samples of various substances gathered from the scene of the event). Three hypotheses had been verified: that of a suicide, that of a provoked suicide and that of murder, but only the first version was consistent with the various types of evidence gathered. As to the obligation to keep the applicant informed, this was not required by law since, in the absence of a crime, she had not been recognised as a victim's representative. Despite the absence of a legal obligation, the prosecutors had kept the applicant informed (see paragraph 8 above), thus complying with their obligations under Article 2 of the Convention. | 4 |
48. The Government also argued that there had been no violation of the procedural aspects of Article <mask> of the Convention. Further to the judgment of the Supreme Court in May 2011 (McCaughey and another, Re Application for Judicial Review ([2011 UKSC 20), the Coroner was legally obliged to, and did, conduct an inquest in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention. The investigation was effective because, inter alia, that Convention compliant inquest led to a jury verdict which was sufficiently focused as to assist with the identification of a person responsible and to ensure accountability: indeed the Coroner had referred the matter to the DPP. The applicants’ reference to the lack of police witnesses was imprecise and, notably, did not indicate how that affected the conduct of the inquest. The investigation was independent as it was supervised by the Independent Commission for Police Complaints (“ICPC”) and, in any event, the applicant did not seek to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Police Ombudsman. As to public scrutiny, the next-of-kin declined to participate in the initial investigation in early 1998 but they did participate at other stages of the investigation and they fully participated in the inquest. | 4 |
72. The applicants submitted that Article <mask> of the Convention had been violated in respect of their mother and close relative, Nura Luluyeva. They submitted that the circumstances of her detention and the discovery of her body in a mass grave indicated that she had been killed by federal forces. They further submitted that there had been a violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2 since no effective investigation had been carried out into the circumstances of her detention and murder. They relied on Article 2 of the Convention, which provides: | 4 |
122. The applicant has further criticised the limited scope of the enquiry and the alleged lack of full disclosure of documents to her. As to the former, she alleged that there could be no examination of the broader context of the riots taking place at the time and the allegedly disproportionate response of the security forces to events. It is true that the Coroner is required to confine his investigation to the matters directly causative of the death and not to extend his inquiry into the broader circumstances. This was the standard applicable in the McCann inquest also and did not prevent examination of those aspects of the planning and conduct of the operation relevant to the killings of the three IRA suspects (McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom, cited above, §§ 162-163). The Court does not consider therefore that the approach taken by the domestic courts necessarily contradicts the requirements of Article 2. Whether an inquest fails to address the necessary factual issues will depend on the particular circumstances of the case. The Court is not persuaded that in this case the surrounding events in the streets of Derry over the three-night period are necessarily relevant to a determination of the cause of Dermot McShane's death. Nor, since the inquest is still pending, has it been shown that any significant elements would inevitably be excluded. The inquest is not required by Article <mask> of the Convention to provide a means of ventilating criticism of the overall handling of public order in Derry over the entire period. | 4 |
67. The applicant complained under Article <mask> of the Convention that his son, Mr Maskhud Makhloyev, had disappeared after being detained by State agents and that the domestic authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. The applicant further claimed that he had no effective domestic remedies for those complaints. Articles 2 and 13 of the Convention read as follows: | 4 |
58. The Government further submitted that the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies as regards the alleged failure by the State to comply with the procedural requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention. In this connection, they put forward two arguments. Firstly, although the pre-trial investigation into the alleged murder had been suspended and restarted several times, the applicant had not appealed to a court against the prosecutors’ decisions suspending the investigation, including the last suspension decision of 16 December 2002. The Government contended that appealing against prosecutors’ decisions to the courts, notwithstanding the nature of those decisions, had been unambiguously possible since 2 April 2002 by an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The applicant had also been informed of the possibility of appealing against the prosecutors’ decisions in the cover letters sent with the prosecutors’ decisions dated 10 October and 3 December 2002. Nonetheless, the applicant had failed to avail himself of that right. | 4 |
102. The applicant complained that Article <mask> of the Convention had been violated in respect of Mr Sultan Isayev. She submitted that the circumstances of his detention, the absence of any news of him ever since and the discovery two weeks later of the body of one of the persons detained with him, showing signs of a violent death, indicated that he too had been killed by the federal forces. She further claimed that there had been a violation of Article 2 in its procedural aspect since no effective investigation had been carried out into the circumstances of her husband's detention and disappearance. | 4 |
203. The Government contended, inter alia, that the case was wholly unfounded and, therefore, there was no place to award just satisfaction. In any event, the claims were excessive, given the standard of living in Turkey of a teacher, like the applicant, and the Court’s eventual award should not lead to unjust enrichment. They submitted that no award could be made in respect of the daughter as she had not been an applicant in the case. They relied on the Court’s judgement in McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom (cited above), in which no award of just satisfaction was made despite the finding of a violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
49. The Government acknowledged that there had been significant delay but argued that it could be explained and did not breach Article <mask> of the Convention. They explained that it was initially thought that it was not a death requiring an inquest and the matter was then re-visited following receipt of the applicants’ expert report. The RUC investigation then took place. The delay between 2001 and 2009 appears largely to have been caused by the litigation, initiated both by others and by the applicants. The delay between starting and ending the inquest (January 2010 and May 2011) was caused by the necessary discharge of the jury and by the time taken to consider a further report of the applicants. Awaiting the voluminous transcript of the inquest hearing and the establishment of the new DPP in his post explained the short delay in the Coroner referring the case to the DPP. | 4 |
55. The applicant made a twofold complaint under Article <mask> of the Convention. He contended firstly that the State had failed to comply with its positive obligations in order to prevent the death of his son whilst the latter had been in prison. Secondly, the applicant argued that the State had failed to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of his son’s death and that the culprits had remained unpunished. | 4 |
84. The applicant argued in her observations submitted to the Court on 10 April 2002 that her son was arrested and detained by members of the Turkish security forces and that he is to be presumed dead, in violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. She also submitted that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the disappearance of her son. | 4 |
39. The Government argued that the circumstances of the present case did not disclose any breach of Article <mask> of the Convention. They relied on their version of the facts and on the principles laid down by the Court in the cases of Andronicou and Constantinou v. Cyprus (9 October 1997, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997-VI); Bubbins v. the United Kingdom (no. 50196/99, ECHR 2005-II); and Olah v. Hungary ((dec.), no. 56558/00, 14 September 2004). | 4 |
138. The applicant referred to her submissions concerning the procedural aspects of Article <mask> of the Convention, claiming that in addition to the payment of compensation where appropriate Article 13 required a thorough and effective investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible and including effective access for the complainant to the investigatory procedure. She disputed that judicial review was an effective remedy in respect of the DPP's decision not to prosecute, as the cases showed that he has a wide discretion and the courts would only overturn aberrant, inexplicable or irrational decisions. | 4 |
152. The Government submitted at the outset that the validity of the contention underpinning the applicant’s complaint – that the entire course of her deceased husband’s clinical treatment had been marked by a series of interconnected shortcomings and errors – had not been demonstrated in any of the proceedings at domestic level. It had never been proven that the death of the applicant’s husband was attributable to medical negligence. They argued that the Chamber judgment had accepted that no medical negligence had been established and that the death of the applicant’s husband had not been caused by an event occurring on 29 November 1997, an event identified and characterised by the Chamber as a lack of coordination between the ENT department and the emergency department of the first hospital. This, according to the Chamber, attested to “failings in the public hospital service” and had “deprived the patient of the possibility of access to appropriate emergency care”. Notwithstanding the absence of medical negligence and of a causal link the Chamber had deemed this finding to be “sufficient for the Court to consider that the State failed in its obligation to protect his physical integrity” in breach of the substantive aspect of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
55. The applicant argued that it was beyond reasonable doubt that the men who had apprehended and taken away their relative on 9 November 2002 had represented federal forces, and that, following this apprehension, Vakhid Musikhanov had been under the control of the State. The applicants also claimed that their relative had been apprehended in life-endangering circumstances, since it was widespread practice in Chechnya that people apprehended by State agents were deprived of their lives immediately, or shortly after being apprehended, rather than being taken to detention centres. They also pointed out that the Government had failed to give any plausible explanation as regards Vakhid Musikhanov's fate. The applicants thus argued that the fact that Vakhid Musikhanov remained missing for several years proved that he had been killed, and that therefore there had been a violation of Article <mask> of the Convention on that account. | 4 |
80. The applicants submitted that the withdrawal of Vincent Lambert’s artificial nutrition and hydration would be in breach of the State’s obligations under Article <mask> of the Convention. In their view, depriving him of nutrition and hydration would constitute ill-treatment amounting to torture within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention. They further argued that the lack of physiotherapy since October 2012 and the lack of therapy to restore the swallowing reflex amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment in breach of that provision. Lastly, they submitted that the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration would also infringe Vincent Lambert’s physical integrity, in breach of Article 8 of the Convention. | 4 |
47. The applicant disputed the Government’s arguments. He claimed that the fact that the investigation into the killing of his family members was still pending called into question its effectiveness rather than indicating that his complaints were premature. The applicant also contended that the Government had not demonstrated that the remedies to which they had referred were effective and, in particular, were capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible, as required by the Court’s settled case-law in relation to complaints under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
103. The applicant submitted that the failure of the authorities to take reasonable steps to investigate or to protect his son whose forced disappearance had been reported to them, disclosed a failure on the part of the Government to comply with their positive obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention to take positive steps to protect the right to life. | 4 |
43. The applicants submitted that the State was responsible for the death of Alexei Vlasi since his shooting had not been warranted by the circumstances. He had not been armed and presented no threat to the life or health of the police officers. After fatally shooting him, the police officers had attempted to falsify evidence to make it appear like self-defence. For that purpose one of them had hurt the other with a knife and had planted the knife in the dead victim’s hand. The applicants relied on the statements of the witnesses which supported that version of events. Lastly, the applicants submitted that the investigation into the circumstances of the victim’s death had not been effective as required by Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
54. The Government maintained that, since the domestic investigation established that the applicant’s son had committed suicide, Article <mask> of the Convention was inapplicable. They relied in this respect on the Court’s statement in the Pretty case that “[Article 2] is unconcerned with issues to do with the quality of living or what a person chooses to do with his or her life” (Pretty v. the United Kingdom, no. 2346/02, § 39, ECHR 2002‑III). | 4 |
124. The applicant submitted that it had to be concluded that the Coroner failed to appreciate the breadth of the inquiry required by Article <mask> of the Convention, since he excluded all evidence relating to the planning of the operation, with the result that the ambit of the inquest was restricted to the narrow issues of “who, where, when and how” the deceased met his death. This deficiency was further compounded by the Coroner's decision to leave the jury with only one verdict, thus denying the jury the possibility of returning an independent verdict which may have been critical of the overall planning and execution of the police operation. | 4 |
68. The applicants alleged that their relatives’ right to life was violated in that they were deliberately killed by village guards. The applicants, İbrahim Akan and Reşit Acar further complained that their right to life was violated as the village guards attempted to kill them. The applicants in addition claimed that the national authorities failed to comply with their procedural obligations to carry out an adequate and effective investigation into the killings and attempted killings. They relied on Article <mask> of the Convention which provides: | 4 |
54. The applicants submitted that to comply with its positive obligations under Article <mask> of the Convention the State had to do more than adopt laws mandating the investigation and punishment of homicide. It also had to carry out effective official investigations of all instances of homicide. The investigation in the case at hand had not been effective; on the contrary, it had been tainted by a number of grave omissions, which had completely undermined its ability to establish both the exact circumstances in which Mr Ivaylo Zashev had been killed and the identity of the persons responsible for his death. The most serious error had been the loss of the cartridges impounded from the crime scene, as well as the failure to provide protection to Mr V.K., which had been both possible and indispensable, and the lack of which had led to his changing his statements several times. Other deficiencies had been the substandard inspection of the crime scene, the belated conducting of interviews with the neighbours, the belated commissioning of DNA and ballistic expert reports, and in general the excessive length of the investigation, which had lasted almost eight years. The applicants also criticised the passive conduct of the prosecution during the trial, in the course of which it had made only one – poorly substantiated – request for further evidence to be gathered. In addition, in its appeal against the acquittal the prosecution had not raised any additional arguments and had not made further evidentiary requests; nor had it sought later to appeal on points of law. | 4 |
235. The applicants maintained their complaints, alleging that their relatives had been abducted and intentionally deprived of their lives in circumstances that violated Article <mask> of the Convention. They further argued that the investigations into the incidents had fallen short of the standards set out in the Convention and national legislation. Lastly, the applicant in Magomadova v. Russia (no. 66877/12) noted the Government’s failure to provide the Court with an entire copy of the investigation file. | 4 |
91. The Government relied on the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office and argued that the Russian authorities were not responsible for the actions of the unidentified persons who had abducted Artur Bersunkayev and that the investigation had not obtained any evidence to the effect that representatives of the federal power structures had been involved in the imputed offence. They submitted to that end that members of illegal armed formations within the territory of the Chechen Republic resorted to various methods of concealing the fact of their participation in such groups and that of recruitment of new members, such as “deliberate dissemination of false information concerning their disappearances from the places of their permanent residence and implication of the federal forces in such disappearances”. Moreover, the aforementioned false information was also used by “representatives of international terrorist organisations, leaders of illegal armed groups and their emissaries abroad for the purpose of propaganda against the State agencies of Russia”. The Government argued therefore that there were no grounds to claim that Artur Bersunkayev’s right to life secured by Article <mask> of the Convention had been breached. | 4 |
28. The Government submitted that they were aware of “the potential impact of the lack of a separate investigation into the killing of the applicants’ relative on the obligation to conduct an effective investigation”. The Government invited the Court to hold that Article <mask> of the Convention had not been violated under its substantive aspect and left the assessment of the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention to the Court’s discretion. | 4 |
42. The Government considered that these complaints were inadmissible because of the applicants’ non-compliance with the six-month rule. In particular, at the material time the law in force did not provide for a possibility to claim compensation from the State for any damage inflicted by a State official who was not acting in his/her official capacity. It had been established in the present case that at the time of the incidents D. had been off duty. Therefore, the applicants’ claim for damages lodged against the State bodies had been devoid of any prospect of success from the very beginning. Consequently, the six-month time-limit should be calculated from the date of the incidents, namely, 22 November 1999. Given that the applicants had lodged their complaints on 29 September 2005, the Government considered that the applications were inadmissible in the part relating to the applicants’ complaints about the absence of an effective domestic remedy for their complaints under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
89. The applicant maintained her complaints. In her opinion, it was beyond reasonable doubt that Isa Kaplanov and Ruslan Sadulayev had been detained by representatives of the federal forces, this fact having been confirmed by eyewitness statements and the findings of the domestic investigating authorities. The applicant stressed that her relatives had been apprehended in life-endangering circumstances, given that their arrest had been effected by a group of about 20 armed men who had arrived in six APCs and had not produced any documents to authorise the arrest. In this respect she referred to documents of the Council of Europe and of various human-rights NGOs reporting on a widespread practice of forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, tortures and ill-treatment of detainees in Chechnya by representatives of the federal forces. She thus argued, relying on Article <mask> of the Convention, that the fact that her relatives had remained missing since 12 May 2001 proved that they had been killed. | 4 |
51. The Government submitted that Article <mask> of the Convention did not apply in the circumstances of the present case. They maintained that the applicants were no longer victims of a violation of the aforementioned provision following the redress provided by the authorities, within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention. They further noted that in the case of D. v. the United Kingdom (application no. 30240/96, 2 May 1997, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997‑III), which concerned the attempted expulsion of an AIDS sufferer to St. Kitts where he would have been deprived of the medical treatment he was receiving in the United Kingdom, the Court had examined the complaints of the applicant under Article 3 of the Convention rather than Article 2. | 4 |
193. The applicant disputed the Government's submission and claimed that she had lodged her application with the Court within the six months' time-limit as required by the Convention. She stressed that she did not allege a breach of Article <mask> of the Convention only in respect of the murder of her husband, but complained of a continuing failure by the authorities in the “TRNC”, over which the respondent Government exercises effective control, to conduct a thorough and effective investigation into her husband's death, to bring his murderers to justice and to compensate her for his death. She also noted that, in addition to her complaint under Article 2 of the Convention, she complained of continuing violations of her rights under Articles 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of the Convention. | 4 |
85. The applicant complained that the officers from the Ventspils State Police were not sufficiently independent as they were colleagues of A.J. He accepted, however, that the Prosecutors were adequately independent and impartial for the purposes of Article <mask> of the Convention. The Court agrees with this concession, as it would appear that in Latvia the Prosecution Service has a hierarchy of its own, separate from the police, and in operational matters of criminal law and the administration of justice the police are under its orders. | 4 |
52. The Government claimed that immediately after the incident a preliminary investigation had been launched and charges mandatorily brought against G.A. According to the Government, the investigation had been prompt and effective. In particular, the authorities had showed initiative and had produced medical, forensic and ballistic reports within a short period of time. In addition, the administrative inquiry into the incident had been independent, since it had been assigned to an officer of the police department dealing with administrative investigations. It concluded that both inquiries took into account the different elements produced and satisfied the requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
114. The Government observed that, with regard to Article <mask> of the Convention, it was necessary to make a distinction between, on the one hand, cases where death had been inflicted deliberately or had occurred following assault or ill-treatment and, on the other, cases where death had been inflicted unintentionally, through negligence. This Article of the Convention required the Contracting States, in cases of fatal assault, to conduct an investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible (they referred to Tanrıkulu v. Turkey [GC], no. 23763/94, § 79, ECHR 1999-IV). That being so, an award of compensation could not suffice, in such cases, to make good the violation of Article 2 and to deprive the applicant of his or her victim status. | 4 |
70. The Government submitted that the domestic authorities had made every effort to satisfy the procedural obligation inherent in Article <mask> of the Convention. Three high-ranking officers with experience in military operations in that area had been appointed as experts to assist in the investigation. A number of soldiers who had since completed their military service and been discharged from the army had been summoned to give evidence. | 4 |
60. The applicants complained under Article <mask> of the Convention, read in conjunction with the State’s general duty under its Article 1 to “secure to everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention”, that Germany did not provide for an adequate or effective official investigation into their father’s death. They further complained that the German authorities had refused to allow U.’s extradition to face trial in the United Kingdom. They relied in this respect on the procedural obligations inherent in Article 2 § 1 which provides in its first sentence: | 4 |
53. The applicant’s action against the State provided an appropriate remedy by which to establish liability for R.D.’s actions resulting in a breach of the applicant’s rights under Article <mask> of the Convention. The fact that he did not seek compensation from R.D. is not decisive, since the object of his claim, as well as of his application before the Court, was to establish the State’s responsibility as such. | 4 |
23. The Government argued that the applicants had submitted their application with the Court twenty years after their relative had died. There had been a period of inactivity in the investigation in question between 2005 and 2015 and the applicants had not demonstrated adequate interest in the progress of the investigation but had instead remained passive. They had lodged their application after the conclusion of civil proceedings for damages before the national courts. However, such proceedings were of no relevance for the State’s obligation under the procedural aspect of Article <mask> of the Convention in the circumstances of the case at issue. Therefore, the application had been submitted outside the six-month time-limit. | 4 |
31. The applicant maintained her complaint. She argued that the investigating authorities had failed to consider any other version of events in respect of her daughter’s death aside from suicide. The applicant noted that between May 2007 and October 2011 twenty decisions had been taken refusing to institute criminal proceedings against Ch. on the count of incitement to commit suicide and between May 2008 and June 2010 twenty decisions had been taken refusing to institute criminal proceedings against Ch. on the count of inflicting regular beatings. The applicant contended that this was a strong indicator of the ineffectiveness of the investigation. It had been repeatedly noted by the supervising prosecutors and the courts that the inquiries had been incomplete and the decisions refusing to institute criminal proceedings had been unlawful and unsubstantiated. The applicant outlined the major deficiencies of the investigation which had undermined the authorities’ ability to establish the true cause of her daughter’s death and to identify the perpetrator. She further noted that the investigators had been limited in their powers since the pre-investigation inquiry had never progressed to the stage of a criminal investigation and had therefore not been capable of meeting the requirements of an effective investigation under Article <mask> of the Convention. The criminal proceedings opened against Ch. in June 2010 had been limited to the beatings inflicted on Z. Lastly, the applicant noted that she had not been afforded an opportunity to participate effectively in the proceedings. | 4 |
44. The applicant submitted that her son, Hubert Mojsiejew, had been killed in the sobering-up centre and that his right to life protected by Article <mask> of the Convention had therefore been violated. The legal regulations in force had proved to be ineffective and theoretical as they had not afforded effective protection of Hubert Mojsiejew’s life. It was beyond doubt that Mr Mojsiejew had died at the hands of employees of the sobering-up centre, who had abused their power by using an immobilisation technique or otherwise causing his death. Therefore, the employees of the sobering-up centre should have been prosecuted for murder and not unintentional homicide. | 4 |
80. The Government pointed out that J. had been shown to pose a serious threat to those present at the scene. He had previously been involved in a siege situation and in other violent crimes. He was known to have acted violently towards the police and even towards members of his own family, having shot at his own brother previously, and was also known to have had mental health problems. In addition, the circumstances at the scene were extremely difficult due to the weather and other conditions. The applicable law was in conformity with Article <mask> of the Convention. The police could interfere with a person's constitutional rights only if it was permitted by law. In the present case, as noted by the domestic courts, the police officers in question had had justifiable reasons for believing that J. had made an illegal threat and committed an assault and possibly a robbery. In addition, J. had been proven to be dangerous to the public at large and especially to those present at the scene. This entitled the police to apprehend him and take him into custody. The Government made reference to Andronicou and Constantinou v. Cyprus (judgment of 9 October 1997, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997‑VI, p. 2107, § 192) and McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom (judgment of 27 September 1995, Series A no. 324, p. 58, § 200), in which the Court had stated that the use of force may be justified where it is based on an honest belief which is perceived, for good reasons, to be valid at the time but which subsequently turns out to be mistaken. In the present case the situation during the operation fulfilled the requirements of Article 2 § 2 (a) and (b). The police officers had been trying to effect a lawful arrest while protecting themselves, the other persons at the scene and the residents of the island. As concluded during the pre-trial investigation and the consideration of the charges and also during the proceedings before the domestic courts, had J. been allowed to escape armed, the lives of even more people would have been in danger. Therefore, the perception of the situation and the actions taken in the present case had not been proved to be mistaken. | 4 |
52. The applicant’s representatives invited the Grand Chamber to “affirm the judgment” made by the Chamber but submitted no further claim for just satisfaction either as regards costs and expenses incurred before it or with respect to pecuniary or non‑pecuniary damage. The applicant also made a written statement confirming his interest in pecuniary compensation for the violation of Article <mask> of the Convention, in the following terms: | 4 |
190. The applicant does not complain that her cousin was killed by State agents in circumstances which breached Article 2 in its substantive aspect; consequently, she does not aver that his shooting was unlawful or that the conduct and planning of Operation THESEUS 2 was in breach of Article 2. Rather, her complaints fall solely under the procedural limb of Article <mask> of the Convention and relate solely to the fact that no individual police officer was prosecuted following the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. | 4 |
242. The applicants maintained their complaints alleging that their relatives had been abducted and intentionally deprived of their lives in circumstances that had violated Article <mask> of the Convention. They further argued that the investigation into the incidents had fallen short of the standards set down in the Convention and national legislation. Lastly, the applicant in Kukurkhoyeva (no. 50556/08) noted the Government’s failure to provide the Court with a copy of the investigation file. | 4 |
132. The applicant alleged that his brother, who had been arrested on 12 September 1994, had disappeared while in custody and had in all probability been killed by the security forces. He submitted that the respondent State had to be declared responsible for failing to protect his brother’s right to life, in breach of Article <mask> of the Convention, which reads: | 4 |
79. The applicant alleged that the failure by the authorities to comply with their obligation to protect her life and that of her son, who was killed by her husband, had resulted in a violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. She submitted in that regard that the Italian authorities had failed to protect her son’s right to life and that they had been negligent before the repeated violence, threats and injuries which she herself had endured. | 4 |
57. The applicant maintained that an effective remedy for the purposes of Article <mask> of the Convention would have been a proper criminal investigation of the circumstances of the explosion which killed her husband and seriously injured her. She had lodged the application with the Court within six months, as soon as she had been able to realise that the investigation was ineffective. She had therefore complied with the admissibility criteria under Article 35 of the Convention (see Bulut and Yavuz ν. Turkey (dec.), no. 73065/01, 28 May 2002). | 4 |
106. The applicants further complained under the substantive limb of Article <mask> of the Convention that the authorities had not taken reasonable and adequate steps to protect the life and health of V.P. It appeared from the investigation that V.P. had been escorted to the ground floor because the toilet located on the second floor had not been provided with bars. Thus, the police officers must have had grounded suspicions that V.P. would either attempt to escape or to commit suicide. Under such circumstances the police officers should have taken adequate measures during the escort to avoid any incident. The police officers acted with gross negligence if they had let V.P. run and reach such speed as to jump through the window. The applicants also expressed the view that there should have been bars on the windows on the mezzanine and the second floor in order to prevent such events. | 4 |
40. The Government submitted that the criminal investigation had been opened immediately after the accident and that investigative measures were carried out comprehensively and promptly. The national authorities had taken all necessary steps in order to collect the evidence and to establish the circumstances of the death of the applicant’s son. Certain delays had occurred during the proceedings but those had not been attributable to the State. The applicant had been given appropriate access to the case file and had been able to participate effectively in the proceedings. Overall, the procedural requirements under Article <mask> of the Convention had been complied with. | 4 |
43. The applicant maintained her complaint. She submitted that her brother’s death had been caused by the authorities’ failure to provide him with medical treatment. Despite their knowledge of his condition, they had left him without any medical assistance for thirty-six hours. Their negligence had been the direct cause of his death, and had amounted to a failure on the part of the State to comply with the positive obligation set out in Article <mask> of the Convention. It had been established in the course of the domestic inquiry that the guards of the temporary detention centre had shirked their responsibility to exercise surveillance over Mr Timin and monitor him. The guards and other inmates had witnessed his erratic behaviour; however, nothing had been done by the authorities to alleviate his condition. As was apparent from the authorities’ decision of 29 February 2012, Mr Timin had also been subjected to ill-treatment while in police custody from 10 to 13 March 2004. Lastly, the applicant asserted that the Russian authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances of her brother’s death. On numerous occasions the investigators had refused to open criminal investigation, the relevant decision being quashed each time by the superior prosecutor or a court for failure to carry out a complete inquiry. | 4 |
151. The applicant further submitted that there had been other instances of medical negligence, such as the four occasions on which her husband had been imprudently discharged from hospital (13 December 1997, 23 December 1997, 9 January 1998 and 3 February 1998). In addition, she argued that the direct cause of her husband’s death on 8 March 1998 undeniably amounted to medical negligence. She alleged that there had been an inexplicable delay in performing surgery, which should have taken place on 6 March but had in fact not been performed until 7 March at 8 p.m., by which time it had been too late to cure the peritonitis which had set in. In this connection she contended that it was undisputed that peritonitis, attributable in her husband’s case to a duodenal ulcer and the resulting perforated viscus, called for urgent surgery in order to avoid the onset of uncontrollable septicaemia, as in the present case. There was thus no reasonable explanation for the fact that the surgery had not been performed until 8 p.m. the following day. To that extent, the applicant submitted that this circumstance formed part of the series of unjustifiable delays in the delivery of appropriate medical treatment to her husband, which had deprived him of the possibility of access to such care. This constituted a further violation of the substantive limb of Article <mask> of the Convention. In this connection she argued that even if the need for surgery had not become apparent until 7 March, this still did not explain why a surgeon had not been called until 3 p.m., thus leaving the patient without effective assistance until that time, and why he had been taken to the operating theatre without the necessary preparation, with the result that he had to be taken out of the theatre and then returned there around 8 p.m., by which time he had been in a very serious condition, between life and death. | 4 |
36. The Government disputed the complaint. They argued that the authorities’ actions in the case had been adequate, and that the procedural requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention had been complied with. It was important that the authorities’ obligation to investigate was an obligation of means, not of result. Thus, the fact that the criminal proceedings related to Angel Georgiev’s death had not led to the identification and punishment of those responsible did not mean that there had been a breach of Article 2. | 4 |
91. The Government thus contended that the use of lethal force in the present case had been no more than absolutely necessary for the purposes of paragraph 2 (a) and (b) Article <mask> of the Convention, and that the deaths of Amkhad Gekhayev and Zalina Mezhidova had been the result of “the local residents’ failure to comply with the necessary rules concerning personal safety in an area where State agents were conducting a counter-terrorist operation, and to obey the servicemen’s legitimate orders”. | 4 |
45. The Government submitted that the respondent State had fulfilled its procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention in that it had established the circumstances under which M.N. had been killed; and identified and punished I.S. as the perpetrator of the crime. The charges brought against Z.J., P.K., V.B. and D.I. had concerned an alleged abuse of office, failure to report a crime or an offender, and assisting an offender after the commission of a crime. Those charges had concerned alleged actions or omissions on the part of the defendants, which had not affected the investigation into M.N.’s death. The offences with which those defendants had been charged had not been decisive for the identification and punishment of I.S., whom the courts had found responsible for M.N.’s death. Lastly, the Government sought that the Court did not take the additional evidence submitted by the applicant (see paragraph 26 above) into consideration since it was neither submitted to any domestic authority nor have its authenticity and veracity been verified. | 4 |
98. The applicants contended that the civil proceedings which they had instituted concerning the accidental death of their relative had failed to meet the requirement of promptness and effectiveness. They pointed out that the civil proceedings at issue had lasted for more than fifteen years and that during the proceedings the domestic courts had failed to elucidate the circumstances surrounding the accidental lethal injury and medical treatment of their son and brother. They were aware that they could not bring their relative back, but they had hoped that the liability for his death would be established. In their view, the failure of the domestic authorities to put in place an effective judicial system to deal with accidental death and medical malpractice represented a flagrant violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
249. The applicants maintained their complaint, alleging that their relatives had been abducted and intentionally deprived of their lives in circumstances violating Article <mask> of the Convention. They furthermore argued that the investigations into the incidents had fallen short of the standards set down in the Convention and national legislation. Lastly, they noted that some of the case files submitted by the Government had not been furnished in their entirety, as had been requested by the Court. | 4 |
61. The Government argued that the investigation into the murder of the applicant’s husband met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all the measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible. They submitted that the investigation was being carried out in full compliance with the domestic law and that a large number of investigative actions had been carried out, this fact having been confirmed by a decision of the Urus-Martan Town Court of 29 March 2004 given upon the applicant’s complaint about the refusal of access to the case file (see paragraph 36 above). The Government also argued that once the applicant had been granted the status of victim, she had been duly informed of procedural decisions taken during the investigation. The Government also referred to the Court’s case-law, stating that the procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention did not require applicants to have access to police files, or copies of all documents during an ongoing inquiry, or be consulted or informed about every step (see Brecknell v. the United Kingdom, no. 32457/04, § 77, 27 November 2007), and argued that by virtue of her status as a victim, the applicant would be able to gain access to the case file once the investigation was completed. The Government thus insisted that they had fulfilled their procedural obligation under Article 2 of the Convention. | 4 |
149. The applicant agreed with the facts as laid down in the Chamber judgment as well as the reasoning adopted in finding a substantive violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. She further submitted that the Court should also take into account at least one other aggravating factor. In this connection the applicant argued that, irrespective of the origin of the bacterium which caused the meningitis, the treatment had not been administered as promptly as the situation demanded. The emergency team which had taken charge of the applicant’s husband at the CHNVG had been entirely unaware of, or else had disregarded, the fact that a nasal polypectomy had been performed two days earlier in the same hospital, and instead had treated the patient on the assumption that he was suffering from psychological problems. The applicant contended that the patient had not received any treatment between his arrival at the emergency department at about 1.30 a.m., and 10 a.m., when the lumbar puncture had been performed. | 4 |
46. The Government maintained that the authorities had complied with their positive obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention to secure the applicant’s son’s right to life and that they could not be held responsible for his death, which had been a tragic incident. They referred to legal regulations which had been put in place in order to ensure the safety of patients in sobering-up centres. The manner and circumstances in which means of physical coercion could be applied to patients were also specified by domestic law. The employees of the Tychy Sobering-Up Centre had received relevant training, the centre was properly equipped and there was a continuous presence of a doctor. No evidence of intentional killing had so far been disclosed. Since the criminal proceedings against four employees were still pending before the domestic courts it would be premature to assess the conduct of the employees of the centre during the events in question. | 4 |
110. The Government argued that the investigation into the disappearance of the applicants' relatives met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible. They submitted that the investigation was being carried out in full compliance with the domestic law and that a large number of investigative measures had been taken, including sending numerous enquiries to the federal military and security agencies to verify the possible involvement of federal servicemen in the imputed offence, or to check whether the applicants' relatives were being kept in any detention centres. The Government also argued that the first and seventh applicants who had been acknowledged as victims in the case had received explanations concerning their procedural rights. The Government thus insisted that they had fulfilled their procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
22. The applicants complained of the lack of an effective, impartial and thorough investigation, capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible for the violent crackdown on the demonstrations of December 1989 in Bucharest, Timișoara, Slobozia, Vișina and Țăndărei, when they had been injured and their close relatives had been killed by gunfire. They relied on Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
142. The Government contended that Article <mask> of the Convention was inapplicable in the present case. They pointed out, first of all, that the second, fourth and fifth applicants had not been at home during the flood and that there was no evidence that their lives had been put at risk at any time. The Government then argued that the first, third and sixth applicants, who had been at home when the flood had occurred, had never claimed in the civil proceedings brought by them that their lives had been in danger. In particular, the third applicant had been able to leave home with her child and make her way to a safe place. The Government contended that the circumstances of the present case were different from those in Budayeva and Others v. Russia (nos. 15339/02, 21166/02, 20058/02, 11673/02 and 15343/02, 20 March 2008) or Murillo Saldias and Others v. Spain ((dec.), no. 76973/01, 28 November 2006), where the applicants’ relatives had died and a number of the applicants had been injured as a result of the natural disasters concerned – a mudslide and a flood respectively – whereas in the present case none of the applicants had lost any relatives or sustained any injuries during the flood of 7 August 2001. | 4 |
37. The Government argued that the Croatian authorities had taken all the appropriate steps, interviewed everyone who could have had any information about the events at issue and had followed up all leads as soon as they had learned about the abduction of the applicant’s husband in 2004. They had thus satisfied their procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
64. The Government submitted that the legal remedies at the domestic level had afforded appropriate redress for the applicants' complaints under Article <mask> of the Convention. They further asserted that the national authorities had conducted an effective investigation into the applicants' complaints. In their opinion, both the civil and administrative courts had taken a protective approach towards the applicants when establishing their victim status and granting them redress for their grievances. The courts had awarded the applicants sufficient compensation and these judgments had been executed by the authorities. They added that, following the impugned incident, the Kızılay had decided to give the first applicant a scholarship in order to support his education. | 4 |
61. The Government relied on the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office and argued that the investigation had not obtained any evidence that Adam Ayubov was dead, or that representatives of the federal military or security agencies had been involved in his abduction or alleged killing. They contested the oral evidence given by witnesses during interviews by the investigating authorities as unreliable, stating that witness statements had been controversial and that the investigating authorities had checked the information given by the witnesses by sending queries to law-enforcement agencies and power structures, but that information had not been confirmed. The Government argued therefore that there were no grounds to claim that Adam Ayubov’s right to life secured by Article <mask> of the Convention had been breached. | 4 |
56. The Government maintained that the State cannot be held responsible for the death of the applicant’s husband. They submitted that Article <mask> of the Convention was not applicable to the present case as his death had been a tragic accident. Moreover, at the time of making their submissions the issues surrounding the incident were still in dispute before the domestic courts. The Government maintained that the criminal court alone could be considered competent to establish the facts and to assess the alleged responsibility of the Inspector for Environmental Protection for the applicant’s husband’s death. | 4 |
30. The Government submitted that the criminal investigation had been opened promptly and that comprehensive investigative measures had been carried out. The national authorities had taken all the necessary steps to collect evidence and to establish the circumstances of the death of the applicant’s son. Delays in the proceedings had not been attributable to the State. Most of the delay had been caused by D., who had been hiding from the authorities. As regards the first period of his absence between November 1997 and April 1998, the police authorities had checked D.’s addresses and other possible places of residence following which they had eventually found that he had moved abroad. As regards the second period of D.’s absence, between 1999 and 2010, the Government could not provide information because the police file containing material on the search for D. had been destroyed. Overall, the procedural requirements under Article <mask> of the Convention had been complied with. | 4 |
82. The applicant did not allege that the death of her son had been caused intentionally. Nor do the facts of the case suggest otherwise. Therefore, Article <mask> of the Convention did not necessarily require a criminal-law remedy (see Vo v. France [GC], no. 53924/00, § 90, ECHR 2004‑VIII). In so far as such a remedy was provided and the applicant availed herself of it, the Court observes that she appears to be challenging the termination of criminal investigations against the doctors involved in her son’s treatment. In other words, the applicant complained about the outcome of the criminal investigation. | 4 |
100. The Government have not referred to any other procedure whereby the liability of the authorities can be established in an independent, public and effective manner. While they laid weight on the inquiry, the Court has found above that, although it provided, in many respects, a thorough and useful investigation, it failed for reasons of procedural defects to comply with the procedural obligation imposed by Article <mask> of the Convention. And as pointed out by the applicants, it did not provide any possibility of obtaining damages. | 4 |
83. The Government argued that there had been no violation of the procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention by reason of the delay. They were of the view that the inquest process which had now taken place showed that even if the inquest had taken place earlier, the result would have been no different. The jury at the inquest heard evidence on all matters pertinent to Mr McDonnell’s death from prison officers, other prisoners, prison medical staff and expert witnesses. The passage of time had not in any way diminished the capacity of the inquest to resolve all of the issues required for it to comply with Article 2. | 4 |
39. The applicants noted that the investigation following the arson attack on the first applicant’s house suffered from a number of crucial omissions which made it ineffective. The conclusion that Major I. was not involved in the arson attack was reached without interviewing key eyewitnesses. According to the applicants, the first applicant was questioned by investigating officers only a month after the events in question and because he went to the investigator on his own initiative, without being summoned. The applicants also underlined that the national authorities, and in particular the Poltava Regional Court of Appeal in its decision of 11 December 2002, pointed out numerous shortcomings in the investigation and remitted the case for additional investigation. The applicants concluded that the authorities had not complied with their procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
24. The applicant further complained under Article <mask> of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 on account of lack of compensation for his disability. He also alleged a violation of Articles 6 § 1 and 13 of the Convention in respect of the courts' assessment of evidence and interpretation of the national law and challenged the outcome of the proceedings. | 4 |
84. The applicant complained under Article <mask> of the Convention that the police had refused to institute criminal proceedings following her initial complaint of 15 October 2009 and that when proceedings were finally initiated, they had been unreasonably lengthy. All the steps necessary to secure possible evidence in the case had not been taken. No independent autopsy had been performed and the results of the tests performed in the hospital had not been independently verified. The applicant put into question the official explanation for the cause of her son’s death and considered that the medical staff had failed to carry out a sufficiently profound medical examination of her son and to give due consideration to other possible reasons for the deterioration of his health, besides the cancer. For example, they had failed to diagnose pneumonia in due time and to assess whether the deterioration of O.’s condition could have been attributed to a tick-borne disease. Other possible causes of death had also been overlooked by the investigative authorities. The applicant further argued that the experts and authorities had failed to duly consider whether the administration of certain medicines, including sedatives, penicillin and medicines lowering the blood pressure, had been justified and in accordance with clinical safety guidelines. Nor had they considered whether such treatment had in fact had negative effects on O.’s condition, including causing his breathing to stop on 12 October 2013. Not all of the medical staff concerned had been questioned in the course of the investigation, and many of those who had been questioned had lied under oath. In the criminal proceedings the authorities had failed to ascertain whether depriving a person of food and treatment, in spite of objections from his immediate family, could be considered to be manslaughter. The procedure for determining brain death had not been followed and O. had been deprived of any treatment or food on 13 October 2009 without the brain-death procedure even having been commenced as required, let alone having been completed. | 4 |
69. The Government referred to the results of the forensic examination according to which the remains of Mr Ismail Dzhamayev had been found at the cemetery where bodies of the illegal armed groups’ members killed on 7 and 9 March 2002 had been buried. They submitted that he had been involved in the fight on 9 March 2002. The Government stated that the special operation conducted in Stariye Atagi between 6 and 13 March 2002 had been properly planned and carried out by competent State bodies in compliance with the applicable legislation, in particular with Federal Law no. 130-FZ of 25 July 1998 on Suppression of Terrorism, Federal Law no. 1026-1 of 18 April 1991 on the Police and Presidential Decree no. 1255c of 23 September 1999 on Measures Enhancing the Efficiency of Counter-Terrorist Operations in the Territory of the North Caucasia Region of the Russian Federation. They further submitted that the force applied had been “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of Article <mask> of the Convention and, therefore, there had been no breach of the above provision. | 4 |
59. The Government argued that all complaints in respect of the death and medical treatment of the applicant’s sister were outside of the Court’s temporal jurisdiction. They pointed out that the Convention had entered into force in respect of Croatia on 5 November 1997 and that the applicant’s sister had died in 1994. Therefore, the Government concluded that any substantive complaint under Article <mask> of the Convention was incompatible ratione temporis. | 4 |
56. The Government further contented that the taking of Mr Apti Dalakov’s life had been in accordance with subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 2 of Article <mask> of the Convention, namely that it was in defence of others from unlawful violence and in order to effect a lawful arrest. In their submission the Government referred to the findings of the investigation in criminal case no. 27520028, according to which Mr Apti Dalakov had refused to obey the law-enforcement agents’ orders, and therefore the FSB officer had opened fire in order to eliminate the threat to his own life and health and that of the others. The Government further submitted “the investigation of criminal case no. 27520028 was effective and in compliance with the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention”. | 4 |
41. The applicant emphasised that twenty-four years after her husband had been killed, the related criminal investigation had still not identified those responsible and sent them for trial. She considered that the duration of the investigation had been excessive and that the authorities had not complied with the requirements set forth in the Court’s case-law on Article <mask> of the Convention, or with those set forth by the domestic courts. | 4 |
61. The applicant complained that he had been unable to obtain compensation for harm suffered as a result of an aircraft accident from the various third parties involved (see paragraph 75 below) and that the State should bear responsibility for any shortcomings in the legal regulation of the safety of private flights. The Court, being the master of the characterisation to be given in law to the facts of the case, will consider this complaint under Article <mask> of the Convention, the relevant part of which reads: | 4 |
290. The applicants complained that, on 20 February 1993, the security forces had opened fire on the houses in Ormaniçi without advance warning, that Abide Ekin and Ali Yıldırım had been killed and the latter's sister Emine Yıldırım injured as a result of the explosion of devices used by the security forces on that day, and that Ibrahim Ekinci, one of the apprehended villagers, had been injured while being tortured in custody and had subsequently died as a result of his injuries. They relied on Article <mask> of the Convention, which provides: | 4 |
80. The applicant complained that the authorities had failed to protect the right to life of her son in violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. In particular, she argued that the hospital had been negligent in so far as it had not supervised him sufficiently, had not installed adequate security fencing to prevent him from leaving the grounds and had not provided for an adequate emergency procedure. Under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention she complained about the length of the civil proceedings she had brought against the hospital. | 4 |
96. The Government argued that the investigation was prompt and exceptionally thorough. The police arrived at the scene immediately after the applicant’s son’s body was discovered. The circumstances of his death, including any possible omission on the part of the prison staff, were investigated by the police and the Prosecutor. A number of forensic reports were obtained in order for all aspects of the case to be explored. The applicant was involved in the proceedings and was notified of the actions taken during the investigation. She was also given access to the file at the Prosecutor’s office and was able to copy documents from it. The State therefore fully complied with their procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
56. The applicant contended that his son had died as a consequence of the prison authorities’ failure to protect his life. Moreover, the pre-trial investigation into the events had not complied with the requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention. The investigation had been suspended and restarted on numerous occasions. Upon seeing that the investigation was not being conducted promptly and thoroughly, the applicant and his lawyer had repeatedly visited the offices of the Kaišiadorys District Prosecutor. He had persistently complained in writing to the Kaišiadorys District Prosecutor’s Office, the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office and even to the Attorney General. The applicant emphasised that on his initiative the investigation had been restarted several times, because the Kaišiadorys District Prosecutor’s Office had failed to take the necessary investigative actions by itself. | 4 |
59. The applicants alleged that the respondent State had failed in its obligations under the procedural aspect of Article <mask> of the Convention. They alleged that those provisions required the State to conduct an effective, impartial and thorough investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible for the army operation, in the course of which Ms Melnichuk – the first applicant’s wife and the second applicant’s mother – was killed by gunfire, and the third and fourth applicants were severely injured by bullets. | 4 |
49. The Government contested that argument. They submitted that the Russian investigating and judicial authorities had conducted a thorough, comprehensive and objective investigation into the applicant's allegations concerning the cause of her son's death. The forensic experts, on whose findings the authorities had based their findings, had been independent and impartial and had presented their opinions after having reviewed all the pertaining materials. As it had been established, the applicant's son had received due and proper medical treatment conducted by competent medical professionals and his death had not resulted from medical negligence. The investigation had been effective as required by Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
79. The applicant further maintained that the domestic authorities had failed to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances of her daughter’s death. She submitted that the initial investigation had lasted from 7 June to 7 August 2003. During these two months the investigator had questioned her and granted her victim status in the proceedings and had sent out a number of requests, following which the investigation had been suspended. There had been no investigative activity between August 2003 and December 2006. The cooperation between the investigative and other State authorities had been insufficient. In particular, none of the requests addressed by the investigator to the military prosecutor, the central archives of the Ministry of Defence, the temporary district police, the commander of the UGA or the district military commandant with a view to establishing whether the mortar batteries used on 7 June 2003 belonged to the military units and divisions deployed in the Vedenskiy District had led to results capable of shedding light on the events in question. The applicant further pointed out that it had taken the District Prosecutor’s Office nine months to comply with the court’s decision of 14 April 2008 instructing it to resume the investigation. The decisions suspending the investigation had contained very scarce information as to the evidence collected. The applicant had had a feeling that the investigation process had been a mere formality with a predictable outcome, since over a span of several years the investigating authority had failed to carry out all the possible investigative measures that could have been taken in the absence of the accused. Not all eyewitnesses had been identified and questioned. The official who had given the order to use mortars without a precise calculation of the target area or cordons being formed around that area beforehand had also not been identified. As a result, many issues remained unascertained. Lastly, the applicant had been completely denied access to the case file until 2010. In view of the foregoing, the applicant concluded that the domestic authorities had not complied with their procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
70. The Government submitted that the police officers involved in the organisation and conduct of the training had been disciplined or criminally prosecuted, in compliance with the requirements of Article <mask> of the Convention to ensure, where lives have been lost in circumstances potentially engaging the responsibility of the State, an adequate response so that the legislative and administrative framework set up to protect the right to life is properly implemented and any breaches of that right are repressed and punished (see Öneryıldız v. Turkey [GC], no. 48939/99, § 91, ECHR 2004‑XII). | 4 |
45. The Government submitted that the killing and the physical injury suffered by the applicants and their relatives, as well as the opening of the criminal investigation, happened prior to the date of entry into force of the Convention for Romania on 20 June 1994. Moreover, according to the principles set out by the Court in the case of Blečić v. Croatia ([GC], no. 59532/00, §§ 63-69, ECHR 2006-III), the obligation under the Convention of the Romanian authorities to conduct a prompt and effective investigation is derived from the aforementioned unlawful acts and cannot be severed or examined separately by the Court. Consequently, the Government considers that the Court is not competent ratione temporis to examine the applicants' complaints falling under the procedural head of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
90. The applicants complained of a violation of the right to life in respect of their close relatives, Ilyas and Isa Yansuyev. The applicants submitted that the circumstances of their disappearance and the long period during which it had not been possible to establish their whereabouts indicated that Ilyas and Isa Yansuyev had been killed by representatives of the federal forces. The applicants also complained that no effective investigation had been conducted into their relatives' disappearance. They relied on Article <mask> of the Convention, which reads as follows: | 4 |
15. The applicant complained that the Russian authorities had failed to comply with the positive obligation imposed on them by Article <mask> of the Convention. In particular, she alleged that the explosion resulting in her injuries had been possible due to the lax security at the Domodedovo airport. Relying on Article 6 of the Convention, she complained that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the actions of the airport security personnel and the police deployed at the airport. Lastly, she alleged that she had been unable to participate in the investigation. The Court will examine the applicant’s grievances from the standpoint of Article 2 of the Convention, which reads, in so far as relevant, as follows: | 4 |
58. The Government submitted that the applicants could not claim to be victims of a violation because the investigation had categorically established that Mr Todorov’s death had been self‑inflicted and not the result of actions taken by the police. It had therefore not engaged the State’s responsibility under Article <mask> of the Convention, and the applicants could not claim to be victims of a breach of that provision. | 4 |
154. The applicant submitted that she was entitled to damages in respect of the unlawful deprivation of the life of her husband Dermot McShane and in respect of any failure in the investigation process, referring to the previous Northern Ireland cases, where non-pecuniary damages of 10,000 pounds sterling (GBP) were awarded to applicants for breaches of the procedural obligation under Article <mask> of the Convention (e.g. Hugh Jordan v. the United Kingdom, McKerr v. the United Kingdom, Kelly and Others v. the United Kingdom and Shanaghan v. the United Kingdom, cited above). | 4 |
77. The Government further noted that, as established by the domestic courts, the applicant’s son had committed suicide. They asserted that this action had been his own choice, to which Article <mask> of the Convention was inapplicable. The Government referred in this connection to the case of Pretty v. the United Kingdom, in which the Court held that “[Article 2] is unconcerned with issues to do with the quality of living or what a person chooses to do with his or her life” (no. 2346/02, § 39, ECHR 2002‑III). | 4 |
56. The applicant alleged that the circumstances surrounding the abduction and disappearance of Mehmet Şah Şeker gave rise to a violation of Article <mask> of the Convention. He further contended that the authorities had failed to carry out an adequate and effective investigation into the circumstances of his son’s disappearance. Article 2 § 1 of the Convention reads as follows: | 4 |
74. The applicant complained that she had been unable to secure the conviction of the doctor whose medical negligence had caused her to have to undergo a therapeutic abortion. It has not been disputed that she intended to carry her pregnancy to full term and that her child was in good health. Following the material events, the applicant and her partner lodged a criminal complaint, together with an application to join the proceedings as civil parties, alleging unintentional injury to the applicant and unintentional homicide of the child she was carrying. The courts held that the prosecution of the offence of unintentional injury to the applicant was statute-barred and, quashing the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the second point, the Court of Cassation held that, regard being had to the principle that the criminal law was to be strictly construed, a foetus could not be the victim of unintentional homicide. The central question raised by the application is whether the absence of a criminal remedy within the French legal system to punish the unintentional destruction of a foetus constituted a failure on the part of the State to protect by law the right to life within the meaning of Article <mask> of the Convention. | 4 |
113. The applicant claimed damages on behalf of himself and his parents. The Court observes that Article 41, except in certain specific cases mostly related to complaints being brought on behalf of a deceased person under Article <mask> of the Convention, provides for the payment of just satisfaction to only the direct victim of the violation. It follows that the Court will only consider claims which have been lodged in the name of the applicant himself. | 4 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.