FIRST SECTION
Application no. 32325/13
Amir MAFALANI
against Croatia
lodged on 6 May 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Amir Mafalani, is a Croatian national, who was born in 1982. He is represented before the Court by Ms L. Horvat, a lawyer practising in Zagreb.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 28 October 2008 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of murder and endangering public safety.
According to the applicant, the special police unit stormed his flat, threw him on the floor and punched him in the head and body. He was then taken to a remote place by a river, where he was again beaten up and his head was immersed in the water, forcing him to confess to having committed the murders. The police continued to beat him up both while taking him to the police station and once at the police station. While in police custody, he was forced to sit on a chair, he was not allowed to use the toilet and his hands were tightly constrained. He was then taken back to his flat where the police continued their search. Following his return to the police station, he was again severely beaten.
In October 2011 the applicant complained to the police of ill-treatment during the arrest and requested the relevant reports in that connection.
On 2 November 2011 the police replied that all the relevant reports were confidential and could not be disclosed.
After receiving such a reply, the applicant complained to the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (Ured za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta), which informed him on 16 November 2011 that he should consult the relevant domestic law on the use of police force and that, if he had any objections in that respect, he could always lodge a criminal complaint.
In the meantime, the applicant obtained several medical records indicating that he had sustained injuries to his testes, head, face, shoulder and wrist, and a fractured nose.
On 15 February 2012 the applicant lodged a criminal complaint with the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office (Općinsko državno odvjetništvo u Zagrebu) against unidentified perpetrators concerning his ill-treatment during arrest.
On 20 February 2012 the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office informed the applicant that his criminal complaint had been forwarded to the Zagreb County State Attorney’s Office (Županijsko državno odvjetništvo u Zagrebu) for further examination.
Since then the applicant has received no reply concerning his complaints.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains, under Article 3 of the Convention, of ill-treatment during his arrest and while in police custody, and of the absence of an effective investigation in that respect.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant been subjected to ill-treatment during his arrest and custody, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from ill-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?
The Government are requested to submit two copies of the relevant documents concerning the applicant’s arrest and police custody, his medical treatment and any investigation taken in that respect.
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