CASE OF ROMANESCU v. ROMANIA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Effective investigation) (Procedural aspect)
Egidijus Kūris;Ganna Yudkivska;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Nona Tsotsoria;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Vincent A. De Gaetano;Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer
5. The applicant was born in 1948 and lives in Bucharest. 6. As an officer in a subunit of the special anti-terrorist unit within the special forces for State security (hereinafter “the Securitate”), the applicant participated in the events which commenced in Bucharest on 21 December 1989 and led to the fall of the Ceausescu dictatorship on 22 December 1989. 7. The applicant was arrested by army forces and held in detention from 22 December until 23 December 1989. He was then held by the unit’s commander from 25 December 1989 until 2 February 1990. During this period of time, he was subjected to ill-treatment and, as a result, he suffered depression and he was placed on the officers reserve list on the grounds of poor health (see paragraphs 8 - 13 below). 8. On 29 April 1990 the applicant filed a criminal complaint with the military prosecutor, alleging that he had been ill-treated and illegally detained in the Securitate building and requesting the punishment of various officials, including the unit’s commander, G.A. The military prosecutor questioned the defendants and a large number of witnesses during the criminal investigation and gathered medical evidence. 9. On 2 December 1993 the military prosecutor found that the unit’s commander G.A. had been responsible for the applicant’s deprivation of liberty and his injuries; however, criminal proceedings could not be initiated because the commander had died. 10. On 16 December 1993 the applicant asked the military prosecutor to extend the investigation to other officials he alleged were involved, including doctor P.I. and various Securitate officers. 11. On 2 March 1995 the military prosecutor decided not to initiate criminal proceedings against the doctor P.I. on the ground that the constituent elements of the alleged offence were not present. Following the applicant’s appeal, this decision was set aside by a decision of 25 September 1996 and the investigation continued. 12. On 21 October 1997 the military prosecutor found doctor P.I. liable to pay an administrative fine; however, the type of offence he committed had been pardoned by a decree of July 1997. The military prosecutor discontinued the investigation in respect of the dead defendant, G.A. The criminal case related to the other defendants, the Securitate officers, was severed into separate proceedings. 13. On 20 February 1998 and 16 February 1999 the military prosecutor decided not to initiate criminal proceedings against some of the defendants as the applicant’s complaint had become partly statute-barred. The investigation into crimes allegedly committed by three of the defendants was severed and jurisdiction was relinquished to the prosecuting authorities at the High Court of Cassation and Justice in order to be joined to the main criminal investigation into the events of December 1989. 14. On 27 June 2005 and 23 August 2007 the applicant was heard as a witness and as a civil party in the main criminal investigation. 15. The most important procedural steps taken in the main criminal investigation are summarised in Association “21 December 1989” and Others v. Romania (nos. 33810/07 and 18817/08, §§ 12-41, 24 May 2011), and Alecu and Others v. Romania (nos. 56838/08 and 80 others, §§ 10-13, 27 January 2015). Subsequent developments are as follows. 16. Following the entry into force of the new Code of Criminal Procedure in February 2014, jurisdiction over the case was relinquished in favour of the military prosecutor’s office. 17. On 14 October 2015 the prosecutor’s office closed the main investigation, finding that the complaints were partly statute-barred and partly ill-founded. The parties have not submitted any information on whether there was an appeal against that decision.