Violence against prisoners and the civil obligations that … give rise to the criminal behavior of police officers
JUDGMENT
Grecu v. The Republic of Moldova 30.05.2017 (no. 51099/10)
SUMMARY
Illegal detention in police station for ten hours. Police violence.
The case concerned the applicant’s complaint that she was illegally detained and was subjected to police violence for almost ten hours and was ill-treated by police.
Ms. Grecu was arrested in the early hours of February 22, 2002, but later on the same day, a court found that her detention was abusive. She then filed a lawsuit against the police for mistreatment, but without luck. However, in civil proceedings brought by national courts, they have acknowledged the existence of a violation of her rights under the European Convention in respect of her unlawful detention, mistreatment and inadequacy of investigations. The ECtHR found a violation.
PROVISION
Article 3
Article 5 § 1
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Tatiana Grecu, is a Moldovan national who was born in 1960 and is detained in Vadul lui Voda (the Republic of Moldova). The case concerned her complaint that she had been unlawfully detained and subjected to police brutality for almost ten hours.
Ms Grecu was arrested in the early hours of the morning on 22 February 2002, but released later the same day after a court found that her detention had been abusive. She subsequently lodged a criminal complaint against the police accusing them of punching and strangling her during her detention; the complaint was unsuccessful. However, in civil proceedings she brought against the State, the domestic courts acknowledged that there had been a breach of her rights under the European Convention, on account of her unlawful detention, ill-treatment and the inadequacy of the criminal investigation into her complaints. She was awarded 3,200 euros (EUR).
Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security), Ms Grecu reiterated her complaints of unlawful detention, ill-treatment and the ineffective investigation into her complaints, arguing that the compensation she had been awarded had been inadequate.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 3 (treatment) Violation of Article 3 (investigation) Violation of Article 5 § 1
Just satisfaction: EUR 11,800 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 840 (costs and expenses).
