A victim of police brutality in Ukraine has today been awarded more than 150,000 Euros by human rights judges.
They accepted Bogdan Savitskyy’s protest (Savitskyy v. Ukraine application no. 38773/05) to the European Court of Human Rights about an assault by officers which left the 45 year old with a fractured spine.
Savitskyy lives in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region (Ukraine). Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), he alleged that, after he had been to a bar in August 1998, three police officers had beaten him up, causing him double fractures to the spine.
He also complained that there had been no effective investigation into that incident that he had had no access to the investigation case file and that he could not effectively participate in the investigation as he had had no access to legal advice. Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial), he also complained that the Ukrainian authorities had refused to implement a judgment of October 2006 allowing his request for copies of the procedural decisions taken in the course of the examination of his complaints of illtreatment.
Finally, relying on Article 34 (right of individual petition), he complained that the authorities had hindered his effective application to the European Court of Human Rights, as they had refused to give him access to the necessary documents.
The European Court of Human Rights accepted that there had been a :
Violation of Article 3 (treatment and investigation)
Violation of Article 6 § 1
Violation of Article 34
As Just satisfaction, the court awarded EUR 50,994.05 (pecuniary damage), EUR 100,000 (non-pecuniary damage), EUR 3,050 (costs and expenses).
