More ECHR judgments concerning ill-treatment by Russian policemen are forthcoming

This week on 3 November 2011, the ECHR will deliver 2 judgments in cases of Aleksandra Dmitrieva v. Russia (App. No. 9390/05) and Vanfuli v. Russia (App. No. 24885/05)[1]. Both applicants alleged, inter alia, violations of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) of the Convention due to ill-treatment by the police and the lack of effective investigations of the incidents.

Aleksandra Dmitrieva is a Russian national from St. Petersburg. She is in her sixties and disabled. On 8 December 2001 she was allegedly beaten by policemen who had come to her flat to question her son when she tried to block the door to her son’s room. After that she was taken to the local police station where she spent about 20 hours without food, a bed, or any medical assistance. After she was released, she was not brought before a judge or otherwise interrogated. Besides ill-treatment by the police, the applicant complained about the conditions of the cell for the detainees referring to Article 3 of the Convention. She also alleged that her arrest and detention were in violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention, and that the police entry into her flat violated her right to respect for private and family life guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention. The applicant also claimed a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). 

The second applicant, Vladimir Vanfuli, is a Russian national born in 1974. He lives in the Zabaykalskiy Region. He was charged with some motorway robberies. The applicant claimed ill-treatment while in police custody, namely: that on 3 October 2002 policemen allegedly beat him in order to make him confess to committing the above mentioned crime. In August 2004 the applicant was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. Besides the ill-treatment in police custody, the applicant claimed that there was a violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the Convention due to several shortcomings of the criminal proceedings against him.

In both cases the applicants referred to the events that took place in 2001-2004, a period when reform of the criminal procedure was in its initial stage and major reforms concerning police and detention conditions had not been adopted yet in Russia. In this connection I do not exclude that the ECHR may sustain the majority of the applicants claims. The findings of the ECHR in both cases will be published later this week on the site of the blog.

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[1] According to the information published on the official site of the ECHR: http://www.echr.coe.int/echr/Homepage_EN