site.btaECHR: Bulgarian Police Officers' Use of Electroshock Weapons during Search of Internet Company Was Excessive

ECHR: Bulgarian Police Officers' Use of Electroshock Weapons during Search of Internet Company Was Excessive

Brussels/Strasbourg, September 30 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay
Jeliazkov) - In a judgment in the case of Anzhelo Georgiev and
Others v. Bulgaria concerning allegations of excessive use of
police force, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held,
unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 3
(prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European
Convention on Human Rights in respect of three of the five
applicants as concerned both the allegations of ill-treatment as
well as the inadequacy of the investigation.

The applicants - Anzhelo Georgiev, Kamelia Dekova, Georgi
Kosev, Nikolay Dragnev, and Pavel Tsekov - alleged that they
had been ill-treated by armed, masked police officers during a
special police operation carried out at their Internet
company's offices in order to search and seize illegal software
on June 18, 2008.

Following a complaint brought by the applicants, a preliminary
inquiry was immediately opened. In October 2008 the prosecuting
authorities decided not to prosecute the police officers
involved in the incident. The prosecution concluded that the
employees had disobeyed the officers' orders to lie on the
ground and not touch anything, and that the force used had been
justified by the need to prevent the destruction of electronic
evidence contained in the company's computers. This decision was
upheld on appeal in April 2009 on the basis that the officers
had used force permitted by national law for the purposes of
gathering physical evidence and due to the applicants'
resistance to police orders.

The Court examined the complaints of the applicants. Forensic
medical reports showed that they had sustained injuries,
including numerous bruises, abrasions and burns, which had
caused them pain and suffering. Those reports were not disputed
by the Bulgarian prosecuting authorities. The latter
unequivocally established in their decisions - to not prosecute
the police officers involved - that force had been used by some
officers, including handcuffs and electroshock batons, against
some company employees.

The Court further found that the preliminary inquiry had been
inadequate. In particular, the authorities had not identified
either the officers who had used electroshock weapons or the
type of electroshock weapons used, or the duration for which
they had been applied to the company's employees. The Court
found that properly trained law-enforcement officers had many
other control techniques available to them when in touching
distance of a person who had to be brought under their control.

Moreover, where injuries have been sustained at the hands of the
police, it was up to the Government to prove that it had been
necessary to use force. The inquiry did not give an answer to
the key question of exactly what resistance the applicants had
put up, nor did it explain whether the force used by the police
had been inevitable in the circumstances. It was particularly
striking that the authorities conducting the inquiry could
conclude, without supporting evidence other than statements of
police officers involved in the operation, that the employees
had disobeyed the officers' orders in a manner warranting the
use of physical force.

Consequently, as the Government had not provided convincing
arguments to justify the degree of force used, the Court was
satisfied that during the police operation of June 18, 2008,
officers subjected three of the applicants to ill-treatment and
that the authorities failed to carry out an effective
investigation into the applicants' allegations.

The Court held that Bulgaria was to pay the applicants Kamelia
Dekova, Georgi Kosev and Pavel Tsekov 2,500 euro each in respect
of non-pecuniary damage.