Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)294[1]
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
Balogh against Hungary
(Application No. 47940/99, judgment of 20/07/2004, final on 20/10/2004)
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);
Having regard to the judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;
Recalling that the violation of the Convention found by the Court in this case concerns the ill-treatment by the police of the applicant, an ethnic Roma, during an interrogation in 1995 (violation of Article 3) (see details in Appendix);
Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken in order to comply with its obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;
Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee’s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
Having satisfied itself that, within the time-limit set, the respondent state paid the applicant the just satisfaction provided in the judgment (see details in Appendix),
Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded by the Court in its judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate:
- of individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- of general measures, preventing similar violations;
DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix), that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and
DECIDES to close the examination of this case.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)294
Information on the measures to comply with the judgment in the case of
Balogh against Hungary
Introductory case summary
The case concerns the ill-treatment inflicted on the applicant, an ethnic Roma, by two police officers during an interrogation in August 1995 (violation of Article 3). According to the applicant, during the interrogation one of the police officers repeatedly slapped him across the face and left ear while the other punched him on the shoulder. Two days after his release, the applicant consulted a local doctor who advised him to report to a hospital. Another three days later, the applicant underwent surgery to have his ear drum reconstructed. His medical report stated, without reference to any precise date, that he had sustained a traumatic perforation of the left tympanic membrane. An independent investigation was carried out into the applicant’s allegation of ill-treatment by the police. However, the prosecutor had decided that there was insufficient evidence against the police officers involved and accordingly discontinued the investigation. The Court found that, notwithstanding this independent investigation, the authorities had not provided any plausible explanation for the cause of the applicant’s injury nor had they satisfactorily established that it had been caused otherwise than by the treatment meted out to the applicant in police custody.
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Total
4 000 EUR
10 000 EUR
3 000 EUR
17 000 EUR
Paid on 21/12/2004
b) Individual measures
Besides just satisfaction awarded in respect of pecuniary damage, the Court further awarded just satisfaction in respect of the non-pecuniary damage sustained through distress and suffering resulting from the ill-treatment by the police.
II.General measures
A. Internal instructions: The National Police Headquarters issued instructions to the police commanders obliging them to draw the attention of their staff, before entering service, to the requirement of proportionality and to the prohibition of torture, forcible interrogation and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Police commanders should also regularly remind staff that coercive measures must not be applied if no opposition is met and if the success of the police action can also be assured without such coercive measures.
B. Training measures: A large number of training measures was undertaken to prevent ill-treatment by the police. They included the introduction of the protection of human rights into police training and making the Court’s judgment in the present case an important part of training for police officers.
The teaching of human rights is a priority in the curriculum of higher-education institutions specialising in policing and of the Police Academy. Their courses include, inter alia, social and communication studies (moral and ethical requirements to be met by law-enforcement officers) and detainees’ rights and obligations. Students are expected to be able to respect human rights and minority rights in policing activities. Future police officers receive training at the Police Academy on issues related to the obligation to comply with the prohibition of ill-treatment. On-site training on detention rules is also carried out. Training includes teaching on maintaining order in police detention facilities and on legal regulation and physical conditions of custody. CPT standards are also studied.
Human rights and minority rights are also taught as part of the training organised by the Institute of Policing and Crime Prevention. The Educational Directorate at the National Police Headquarters organises special Police Cell Guard and Escort Guard training for police staff, including information on the proper communication to be used with detainees. In addition, the Airport Police Directorate devotes special attention to training in prevention of inhuman treatment of detainees. Another type of training is organised for the staff of immigration centres and immigration control cells and is financed from the Schengen fund. Its aim is to prepare staff for Schengen-type detention and application of the Schengen standards.
One of the most important training programmes is the “Roma population and policing” training for police officers, organised since 2002 by the Policing Management Training and Research Institute. It deals inter alia, with conflict prevention and management, negative stereotypes including fighting against such stereotypes and lawful action devoid of prejudice and negative discrimination.
C. Publication: The judgment of the European Court was published on the website of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement () and in the human rights quarterly Acta Humana.
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The government considers that the measures adopted have fully remedied the consequences for the applicant of the violation of the Convention found by the European Court in this case, that these measures will prevent similar violations and that Hungary has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers by tacit procedure in accordance with the decision taken at the 1128th meeting (December 2011) under item F.
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