Published on 1 September 2025
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 25480/23
Liviu ŞIPOŞ
against Romania
lodged on 19 June 2023
communicated on 12 August 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the alleged use of excessive force against the applicant by the police and the failure of the domestic authorities to carry out an effective investigation into his allegation of ill-treatment.
On 15 August 2020, at around 6 a.m., the applicant’s home was raided by masked police officers in the context of a criminal investigation conducted by the Department for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism.
The applicant alleges that during the above-mentioned raid he was physically assaulted by police officers, laid down and handcuffed, even though he did not resist the arrest. According to a medical certificate of 25 August 2020 the applicant sustained an injury to his shoulder that required surgery and approximately thirty days of medical care.
The applicant’s criminal complaint on account of ill-treatment by the police was dismissed by the prosecution’s office attached to the Cluj-Napoca County Court, confirmed on appeal by the pre-trial judge of the Cluj-Napoca District Court on 10 February 2023 (final decision served on the applicant on 22 February 2023). Both the prosecutor and the court concluded that the police officers (whose identity was never established) had acted in accordance with the applicable law.
The applicant complains that there was a violation of Article 3 of the Convention under its substantive limb. Relying on the procedural limb of this Article the applicant also complains that the investigation conducted by the domestic authorities was superficial. He alleges in particular that although the police officers who searched his home were identified and provided oral evidence during the proceedings, neither the prosecutor nor the pre-trial judge attempted to identify and hear evidence from the police officers who had subdued him and subjected to ill-treatment. Neither did they establish whether he had resisted the arrest or whether the force used by police had been proportionate.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment by the police, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention during the police intervention in his home on 15 August 2020? In particular, was excessive force used against the applicant?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from inhuman or degrading 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?