Communicated on 8 December 2017
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 47131/15
Harutyun SARGSYAN and others
against Armenia
lodged on 17 September 2015
STATEMENT OF FACTS
A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
The applicants are a family of four.
On 12 April 2012 a criminal case was instituted on account of murder of a third person who had been shot dead in the town of Gyumri.
The applicants allege that on the same date at 3 p.m. the applicant, Harutyun Sargsyan, (“the first applicant”) and his father, Samvel Sargsyan (“the third applicant”), appeared at Gyumri police station following a verbal summons, where the first applicant was subjected to ill-treatment by a number of police officers with the aim of extracting a confession. He was punched, kicked and hit with a truncheon, including on his soles. The ill-treatment continued after his transfer that evening to the Shirak regional police station, where he was beaten by the deputy head and several masked persons. He was later taken to the office of the commanding officer, K.B., where he was beaten by K.B., his deputy, V.Y., and two persons in civilian clothing, one of whom later turned out to be a police officer, A.K. He was beaten to the point of losing consciousness. At one moment K.B. showed his gun and threatened to stage an escape and shoot the first applicant.
According to the materials of the case, the first applicant was taken to Gyumri police station at 5.30 p.m. At 8.20 p.m. he was questioned by an investigator as a witness and at 12.35 a.m. an arrest record was drawn up.
On the night of 12 to 13 April 2012 the first applicant was transferred to the police holding cells of Yerevan police station. It appears that no injuries were recorded at the time of his admission. There the first applicant was allegedly taken to an office where Police Officer A.K. and several masked persons continued beating him in an attempt to convince him to confess.
On 14 April 2012 the applicant was questioned as a suspect, during which he declared about his alleged ill-treatment in police custody.
On the same date, apparently after the lawyers who had been appointed as counsel for the applicant had raised the alarm, the applicant was visited at the police holding cells by an independent prison-monitoring group, which noted the following injuries on him: bruises on the upper part of the left leg, the right shoulder blade, the lower part of the left leg and the back side of the left ear; his left foot, right hand and right ear were swollen; and he could not move the fingers on his right hand.
Melania Sargsyan (“the second applicant”), Anahit Nikolyan (“the fourth applicant”) and the third applicant allege that they were unlawfully held at Gyumri police station between 12 and 14 April 2012, where a number of investigative measures were carried out with their participation.
On 15 April 2012 the first applicant was formally charged with murder.
On 16 April 2012 the first applicant was transferred to Yerevan-Kentron Remand Prison. It appears that at the time of admission he underwent a medical examination and the following injuries were noted: a swelling on the back side of the right ear, a bruise measuring 7-8 by 10-11 cm sustained as a result of a blow on the left leg, a scratch on the left arm and scratches on the right part of the back. The first applicant stated that the injuries had been sustained as a result of ill-treatment in police custody on 12-14 April. It appears that the first applicant was taken to a medical centre where a computer-aided tomography of his head and an X-ray examination of his spine and arm were carried out.
On the same date the investigator examining the applicant’s criminal case ordered that he undergo a forensic medical examination. That decision stated that it was necessary to establish whether there were injuries on the applicant’s body and, if so, to determine their origin, location and severity.
On 17 April 2012 a forensic medical expert examined the applicant at the remand prison and noted bruises on the back and front sides of the applicant’s right ear, four scratches on the right side of his back, a bruise on the left side of his back, a bruise on his left upper arm, a swelling in the area of his right temple, a bruise measuring 4 by 5 cm on his left shin and a bruise measuring 5 by 8.8 cm on his left hip. The injuries had been caused by blunt objects, possibly during the indicated period. The forensic medical expert requested that the X-ray results be provided to him, which could possibly affect his conclusions, and recommended that an X-ray of the joint between the first applicant’s right shin and foot be carried out, if it had not already been done.
On the same date the administration of the remand prison officially notified the relevant department at the General Prosecutor’s Office of the applicant’s injuries recorded at the time of his admission. That notification was forwarded to the General Prosecutor on 19 April 2012 and further to the Special Investigative Service (SIS) on 23 April 2012.
By a letter of 25 April 2012 the independent monitoring group also notified the General Prosecutor of the results of their visit of 14 April 2012. It appears that that letter was received at the General Prosecutor’s Office on 3 May 2012.
On 3 May 2012 an investigator from the SIS requested some relevant material from the authority investigating the applicant’s criminal case and on 7 May 2012 took a statement from the applicant, who provided details of his alleged ill-treatment.
It appears that further statements were taken from the head and deputy head of the Shirak regional police station, K.B. and V.Y., as well as the head of the Gyumri unit of that body, A.S., all of whom denied having ill-treated the applicant.
On 25 June 2012 the SIS investigator refused to institute criminal proceedings, finding the applicant’s allegations to be unsubstantiated, referring to the statements of K.B., V.Y. and A.S., as well as the fact that the applicant had not made any such allegations during his questioning as a witness on 12 April 2012. It appears that the applicant became aware of the investigator’s decision at some point in May 2013.
On 25 May 2013 the applicant contested the investigator’s decision before the General Prosecutor’s Office, which rejected his complaint by its decision of 6 June 2013.
On 15 June 2013 the applicant applied to the courts, alleging that the investigation had not been effective.
On 13 July 2013 the Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court of Yerevan dismissed his appeal.
On 26 August 2013 the Criminal Court of Appeal quashed and annulled all the above-mentioned decisions following an appeal by the applicant, noting a number of irregularities in the investigation into his allegations of ill-treatment.
On 9 September 2013 the General Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal proceedings under Article 309 § 2 (exceeding official authority, accompanied with violence) and Article 315 § 1 (official negligence) of the Criminal Code on account of the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment, and on the same date transferred the criminal case to the SIS for investigation.
In the course of the investigation the SIS investigator took a number of measures: the first applicant was granted victim status; all four applicants were questioned; a new forensic medical examination of the first applicant was carried out; Officers K.B., V.Y. and A.K. were questioned, and they averred that the applicant had sustained his injuries prior to his appearance at the police station as a result of skirmishes with the murdered person’s relatives; several officers who were at the Yerevan police holding cells were questioned, including S.M., the feldsher who had been on duty at the time of the applicant’s admission; a number of formal confrontations were held between the first applicant and the police officers; and so forth.
On 25 March 2014 the SIS investigator decided not to prosecute K.B., V.Y., A.K. or any other police officer, nor the feldsher S.M., finding no criminal conduct in their actions.
On 27 March 2014 the SIS investigator decided to discontinue the criminal case.
On 3 April 2014 the first applicant contested both decisions before the General Prosecutor who rejected his appeals on 14 April 2014.
On 29 May 2014 the first applicant contested both decisions before the courts.
On 31 July and 3 November 2014 respectively the Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court of Yerevan and the Criminal Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeals and upheld the investigator’s decisions.
On 28 November 2014 the applicant lodged an appeal on points of law, which was declared inadmissible for lack of merit by the Court of Cassation in a decision of 9 March 2015. A copy of that decision was served on the applicant on 17 March 2015.
B. Relevant domestic law
For a summary of the relevant domestic provisions see the judgment in the case of Zalyan and Others v. Armenia (see nos. 36894/04 and 3521/07, §§ 148-54 and § 172, 17 March 2016).
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he suffered ill-treatment in police custody and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Was the applicant subjected to ill-treatment during police custody, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from ill-treatment (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 131, 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 copies of the following documents:
(a) The transcript of the applicant’s questioning as a suspect on 14 April 2012;
(b) The record of the applicant’s medical examination conducted on 16 April 2012 at the time of his admission to Yerevan-Kentron Remand Prison, as well as of any other medical examinations conducted in that facility in connection with the applicant’s injuries;
(c) The official notification by the administration of Yerevan-Kentron Remand Prison regarding the applicant’s injuries addressed to the General Prosecutor’s Office on 17 April 2012.
Appendix
No.
Firstname LASTNAME
Birth date
Birth year
Nationality
Place of residence
Representative
Harutyun SARGSYAN
11/07/1983
1983
Armenian
Gyumri
SAHAKYAN
Melania SARGSYAN
07/04/1980
1980
Armenian
Gyumri
SAHAKYAN
Samvel SARGSYAN
05/01/1950
1950
Armenian
Gyumri
SAHAKYAN
Anahit NIKOLYAN
05/08/1958
1958
Armenian
Gyumri
SAHAKYAN
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy