CASE OF VASILE VICTOR STANCIU v. ROMANIA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment;Inhuman treatment) (Substantive aspect);Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Effective investigation) (Procedural aspect)
Egidijus Kūris;Ganna Yudkivska;Iulia Motoc;Marko Bošnjak;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Vincent A. De Gaetano;Georges Ravarani
5. The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in Bucharest. 6. On 11 December 2011 one of the applicant’s neighbours called the police to complain about the fact that the applicant had stored personal items in the common space of their apartment building. 7. At 6 p.m. on 11 December 2011 two police officers arrived at the applicant’s door and asked for his identification papers without giving their names or informing him of the purpose of their visit. The applicant asked them what the purpose of their request was but they did not answer. For that reason, the applicant refused to present his papers, telling the police officers to come “some other time” (altădată). 8. The police officers immobilised the applicant, threw him to the ground and then handcuffed him. Noting the escalation of events, the applicant’s partner, G.C., searched for his identification papers and handed them all to the police officers: identity card, pension benefits slip and a certificate that he had been a fighter in the 1989 Revolution. 9. The police officers took the papers without looking at them and took the applicant to police station no. 19 to be identified. 10. At the police station the applicant was struck with fists, feet and truncheons. The pain was so intense that the applicant soiled himself. During the beating, the applicant’s mobile phone and still camera were destroyed and his clothes were torn. 11. When the beating ended, the police officers checked the applicant’s papers and then left him alone for fifteen minutes in a room. When they returned they informed him that they were leaving on a mission. After being again left alone, the applicant managed to find the officer on duty at the police headquarters (ofiţerul de serviciu) to ask permission to use the toilet. The police officer sent him home to clean himself up. 12. The applicant went home and then returned to the police section to recover his identity papers. 13. On 16 December 2011 the applicant was examined by a forensic doctor at Mina Minovici National Forensic Institute (“the Forensic Institute”). The doctor drafted a medical report dated 16 December 2011; a copy of the report was given to the applicant on 4 January 2012. It noted that the applicant had borne traces of violence on his wrists, arms and legs as a consequence of having been hit with a hard object; that he had complained of chest pains; and that the injuries could have dated from 12 December 2011 and had needed four to five days of medical care. 14. Two weeks after the incident, the applicant received by mail an offence report (proces verbal de contravenţie) drafted by the police officers on 23 December 2011 in his absence, whereby he was fined 100 Romanian lei (RON) for “refusal to present data necessary for his identification”. 15. On 11 December 2011 two police officers were directed by the officer on duty at police station no. 19 to settle a conflict between the applicant and a neighbour. Upon arrival, the police officers asked the applicant to present his identity papers, but he became violent and refused to comply. When the applicant tried to return to his apartment the police officers handcuffed him and transported him to the police station. After his identity had been established, the applicant left the police station. 16. The applicant lodged a criminal complaint against the two police officers, accusing them of unlawful deprivation of liberty, unlawful investigation and torture, and seeking compensation. The complaint was registered with police station no. 19 on 13 January 2012. On 7 August 2012 the file was sent for investigation to the internal investigations department of the Bucharest General Police Headquarters, and police officers from that department were delegated to conduct all relevant investigations. 17. These investigators heard evidence from the two police officers, from the officer on duty on the day of the events and from the neighbour’s husband (see below). 18. On 11 September 2012 the investigating police officers heard evidence from the neighbour’s husband, who declared that when the applicant, “known as a mentally ill person”, had refused, in inappropriate and disrespectful language, to present his identification papers and had attempted to return to his apartment, the police officers had immobilised him on the ground and handcuffed him, without ill-treating him in the process. 19. The officer on duty declared on 3 October 2012 that he had not spoken at all to the applicant on the night in question and had only seen him when the police officers had brought him in to establish his identity; those same officers had subsequently advised him to leave the police station – the officer on duty stated that he had seen the applicant again when he was leaving the building. He added that as he had been very busy in his office he had seen the applicant only for a couple of seconds, and had thus not been in a position to see whether the applicant had been injured. 20. Lastly, the two police officers gave their statements on respectively 4 and 5 October 2012. One of the officers declared that at the time of the events in question, the applicant had been under the influence of alcohol, because he had smelled of alcohol and had displayed a defiant attitude towards the police officers. Both officers mentioned in very similar terms that when asked to present his identification papers, the applicant had tried to evade the measure (“se sustrage măsurii legitimării”) and had attempted to re-enter his apartment by using physical force; for this reason, they had proceeded to handcuff him and had taken him to the police station. Both officers denied having inflicted any harm on the applicant, claiming that they had acted proportionately in view of the applicant’s opposition to their request. 21. G.C., the applicant’s partner, was never heard by the investigators. 22. On 12 November 2011 the prosecutor’s office attached to the Bucharest County Court decided not to prosecute. On the basis of the evidence in the file, attesting, inter alia, to the fact that the applicant was known as a person who engaged in violent behaviour and who was frequently under the influence of alcohol, the prosecutor decided that the injuries suffered by the applicant had been superficial and that the use of force had been proportionate and necessary in order to immobilise him and take him to the police station, as provided for by Articles 26 § 1 (2) and Article 31 § 1 a) and b) of Law no. 218/2002 on the Organisation and Functioning of the Romanian Police (see paragraph 26 below). 23. The applicant lodged an objection. The prosecutor’s decision was upheld on 22 March 2013 by the head of the above-mentioned prosecutor’s office, who considered that the police intervention had been rendered necessary by the applicant’s violent behaviour and had not been excessive, as demonstrated by the fact that the injuries suffered had been insignificant. 24. The applicant lodged a complaint with the Bucharest County Court against the two decisions. He mainly argued that the investigation had been superficial, and that the conclusions of the investigation had been based exclusively on the statements given by the two police officers who had behaved aggressively towards him, while his partner, for instance, had never been heard. He contested the prosecutor’s opinion that the injuries incurred had been superficial. He referred to the Court’s relevant case-law, which required a plausible explanation for any traces of violence sustained while a person had been under police supervision. He also contested the proportionality of the police reaction, pointing out that he had merely refused orally to show his identification and that the police officers could not claim or prove that they had sustained any traces of violence during that intervention. 25. On 11 June 2013 the County Court dismissed the complaint and consequently upheld the prosecutors’ decisions. The court considered that the police intervention had been lawful. It further held that the applicant’s minor lesions had been caused when he had fallen at the moment of his being immobilised by the police, which had been necessary because of the applicant’s verbal and physical resistance. The court considered that the applicant had not been kept unlawfully in the police station but had been released as soon as his identity had been established, and that the consequences of the police intervention had not been serious enough to constitute the crime of torture, as alleged by the applicant. The decision was final, no further appeal being possible.