ĐUROVIĆ v. CROATIA
Inadmissible
Julia Laffranque;Paul Lemmens;Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström;Georges Ravarani;Ksenija Turković
1. The applicant, Mr Slobodan Đurović, is a Montenegrin national who was born in 1954 and is currently serving a prison sentence in Zagreb Prison. He was represented before the Court by Mr R. Mlinarić and Mr K. Vilajtovic, lawyers practising in Zagreb. 2. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Š. Stažnik. 3. On 12 February 2015 the Government of Montenegro were informed of the case and invited to exercise their right to intervene if they wished to do so. On 27 July 2015 the Government of Montenegro informed the Court that they did not wish to exercise their right to intervene in the present case. 4. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 5. On 23 October 2008 I.P., a well-known Croatian journalist, and his business associate N.F. were killed by the explosion of an improvised device placed under I.P.’s car, which was parked in front of his publishing company. The explosion also caused injuries to two employees of the publishing company and considerable material damage to the surrounding buildings and nearby parked cars. 6. The police immediately started enquiries into the above events and soon learned that a certain R.M., L.M. and A.M. were implicated and that an unknown person was supposedly aiding them in fleeing the country. It was therefore decided to arrest these individuals. The Police Chief (Glavni Ravnatelj Policije) issued an oral order that the arrests be carried out by an anti-terrorist team of the Special Police Force (Specijalna policija, Antiteroristička jedinica Lučko – hereinafter “the ATJ”). 7. On 23 October 2009 the State Attorney’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (Ured za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta – hereinafter “the State Attorney’s Organised Crime Office”) indicted several individuals, including the applicant, before the Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu) on charges of conspiracy to kill I.P. and of carrying out the plan. 8. On 3 November 2010 the Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu) found the applicant guilty on the charge of incitement to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment. On 15 January 2013 the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske) upheld the applicant’s conviction, increasing his sentence to twenty-three years’ imprisonment. 9. On 29 October 2008, at 5.35 p.m., the ATJ arrested the applicant together with R.M. and L.M. at the Spačva petrol station off the motorway near the town of Županja. 10. According to the Government the three individuals concerned resisted arrest and force had to be used against them. Two members of the ATJ sustained injuries. The applicant also sustained injuries while a standard restraint technique was applied against him during the arrest. 11. According to the applicant, even though he was not resisting arrest, he was severely beaten by several police officers all over his head and body. 12. After being arrested the applicant was brought to the premises of the Criminal Police in Zagreb. There he received medical assistance at 5.20 a.m. on 30 October 2008 from an emergency medical team. 13. On 31 October 2008 the applicant was questioned by an investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court in the presence of two defence lawyers. He did not make any complaints about the conduct of the police. 14. On 1 November 2008, upon his admission to detention, the applicant was examined by a prison doctor who found that he had haematomas around both eyes and an abrasion on his face. 15. According to the applicant, in the further course of the proceedings he complained to the Zagreb County Court, the investigating judge, the State Attorney’s Office, the police and other authorities of the violence used against him during his arrest. However, he did not submit any documents supporting those allegations. 16. The documents submitted by the parties show that in a letter of 27 July 2011, addressed to the Office of the President of the Republic (Ured Predsjednika Republike Hrvatske) the applicant complained, inter alia, of alleged ill-treatment by the police during his arrest. 17. No investigation was ever opened in connection with the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment. 18. On 21 September 2012 the applicant instituted civil proceedings against the State before the Zagreb Municipal Civil Court (Općinski građanski sud u Zagrebu), claiming damages for his alleged ill-treatment by the police. It appears that these proceedings are still pending before the first-instance court. 19. In a constitutional complaint of 7 March 2013, lodged against the Supreme Court’s judgment of 15 January 2013 given in the criminal proceedings against him, the applicant alleged that the police officers had used force against him during his arrest and had caused him numerous bodily injuries. On 25 February 2015 the Constitutional Court found that these allegations, in so far as they were admissible and susceptible to be addressed within the Constitutional Court’s proceedings, did not reveal any violation of the applicant’s human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.