The applicant complained under Articles 2, 6, 13 and 14 of the Convention in respect inter alia of the alleged ineffective investigation into the death in police custody of Mr Tsonchev, the man with whom she had been living.
Held: ‘The Court recalls that the State’s obligation under Article 2 to protect the right to life, read in conjunction with its general duty under Article 1 of the Convention ‘to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined [therein]’, requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force. The investigation must be, inter alia, thorough, impartial and careful (see the McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom judgment of 27 September 1995, Series A no. 324, p. 49 ssss 161-163, and the Cakici judgment . . The Court further considers that the nature and degree of scrutiny which satisfies the minimum threshold of the investigation’s effectiveness depends on the circumstances of the particular case. It must be assessed on the basis of all relevant facts and with regard to the practical realities of investigation work. It is not possible to reduce the variety of situations which might occur to a bare check list of acts of investigation or other simplified criteria (see the Tanrikulu v. Turkey judgment of 8 July 1999, Reports 1999-ssss 101-110, the Kaya v. Turkey judgment of 19 February 1998, Reports 1998-I, pp. 325 and 326, ssss 89-91, and the Gulec v. Turkey judgment of 27 July 1998, Reports 1998-IV, pp. 1732-1733, ssss 79-81).’
Citations:
41488/98, [2000] ECHR 198
Links:
Cited by:
Cited – A, Re Application for Judicial Review QBNI 25-Jun-2001
The applicant, who feared for his life if identified, sought the release to him of materials discovered by the police in searching premises associated with a loyalist paramiliitary group. He thought that they might include information sourced form . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights
Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165867