Ineffective investigation of ill-treatment by police custody
JUDGMENT
Pankov v. Russia 15.05.2018 (no. 52550/08)
SUMMARY
Allegation of police violence while in the police station for authentication. Infringement of Article 3 because he was subjected to degrading treatment under police custody and no effective investigation was conducted to verify his claim.
PROVISION
Article 3
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Vladislav Pankov, is a Russian national who was born in 1987 and lives in Perm.
The case concerned an allegation of police brutality. Stopped by the police late at night on 9 April
2007 for an identity check and taken to a police station, Mr Pankov alleges that he was beaten by a
police officer the following morning. He was questioned as a witness in a robbery the same day and
released. On being released he was examined by doctors who reported that he had head injuries. No
criminal proceedings were ever brought into his ensuing complaint to the prosecuting authorities of
ill-treatment because the investigator found that there was nothing to confirm that the injuries had
been inflicted by the police. The investigator’s refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was upheld by
the domestic courts in 2008.
Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Mr Pankov alleged
that he had been ill-treated in police custody and that no effective investigation into his allegation
had ever been carried out.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 3 (inhuman and degrading treatment)
Violation of Article 3 (investigation)
Just satisfaction: EUR 15,000 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 1,000 (costs and expenses)(echrcaselaw.com editing).