FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 20806/10
Anatoliy Vasylyovych CHMIL
against Ukraine
lodged on 18 March 2010
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Anatoliy Vasylyovych Chmil, is a Ukrainian national who was born in 1936 and lives in the town of Ananyiv, Ukraine.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
At the material time the applicant was the head of a territorial election commission.
In the early morning of 31 October 2004, the day of the first round of the presidential elections, on his way to the premises of the territorial election commission the applicant was allegedly stopped by four police officers, “pushed” into the police station and beaten.
On the same day the applicant called a prosecutor and complained about the above events.
It follows from the materials submitted by the applicant that at around 1 p.m. on 31 October 2004 the applicant was examined by a forensic medical expert who found that the applicant had scratches on his left cheek and on his right leg. The applicant submitted an undated certificate issued by Ananiyivskyy Hospital. The Hospital doctor noted that the expert had established that there had been shoeprints on the applicant’s clothes and that he had had a head injury. The applicant did not submit a copy of the expert’s conclusion.
Between 2 and 21 November 2004 the applicant stayed in a hospital. He was diagnosed with concussion.
On 10 November 2004 the Ananiyivskyy District Prosecutor’s Office refused to institute criminal proceedings against the police officers. Five witnesses, including two police officers, testified that in the morning of 31 October 2004 they had seen the applicant accompanied by four police officers walking to the police station. At the entrance the applicant started to kick the police officers, grasped their uniforms and shouted that they should stop beating him, and should leave him alone. The police officers, who accompanied the applicant, testified that they did not beat him. This decision was subsequently quashed.
On 16 February 2005 the Ananiyivskyy District Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against the policemen for abuse of power.
On 12 August 2008 this decision was quashed by the Ananiyivskyy Local Court and the case materials were sent to a prosecutor’s office for further investigation.
On 2 April 2009 the criminal proceedings were terminated for the absence of the evidence of crime. On 6 May 2009 the Ananiyivskyy District Court upheld this decision.
By letter of 11 December 2009 the General Prosecutor’s Office informed the applicant that following the investigation it was established that on 31 October 2004 he had approached four police officers and started to offend them and to call them “black shoulder strappers”. He also tore off the left shoulder strap of the police officer L. Moreover, in the police station the applicant tried to kick one of the police officers in the groin.
The applicant also instituted proceedings claiming damages from the Ananiyivskyy District Prosecutor’s Office but to no avail as his claims were rejected for the failure to comply with procedural requirements.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he had been beaten by the police officers and that there was no effective investigation into these events.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from inhuman or degrading treatment (see paragraph 131 of Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, ECHR 2000-IV), was the investigation in the present case by the domestic authorities in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?
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