An ineffective research regarding a work accident consists of a degrading treatment.
JUDGMENT
Mažukna v. Lithuania 11-04-2017 (no. 72092/12)
SUMMARY
Degrading treatment. Investigation. Work accident. The applicant complained that the pre-trial investigation and criminal proceedings in respect of the work-related accident he suffered, which led to his disfiguration, lasted too long and were ineffective. The Court accepted a violation of Article 3 of the Convention due to ineffective investigation.
PROVISION
Article 3
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The case concerns the investigation into an accident at work. The applicant, Aleksandras Mažukna, now deceased, was a Lithuanian national who was born in 1959 and lived in Pamažupiai, Pasvalys Region (Lithuania). In April 2007, working as a welder on a construction site, he was injured when the scaffolding he was standing on broke, and he and other workers fell to the ground. He was disfigured.
The pre-trial investigation into the accident took three years and seven months. It was discontinued three times, the prosecuting authorities concluding that the accident had been caused by the
workers’ recklessness. However, these decisions were overruled by the courts, as they found that the prosecutor’s conclusions had been based on speculation and that he had not addressed findings by the State Labour Inspectorate or by a forensic expert that the accident had been caused by the employer’s failure to comply with work safety requirements.
The case was then transferred to the first-instance court in April 2011, Mr Mažukna’s supervisor having been indicted for negligence. A year later, after repeated adjournments because of the
absence of witnesses and the accused’s illness, the case was terminated as time-barred. Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European
Convention, Mr Mažukna complained that the pre-trial investigation and criminal proceedings concerning his accident at work had been protracted and ineffective.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 3 (investigation)
Just satisfaction: EUR 6,500 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 309 (costs and expenses) to Marius Mažukna, son and heir of the applicant
