site.btaEuropean Court of Human Rights Finds Bulgaria Has Violated TV Director's Rights at 2020 Protests

With a May 27 decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that the Bulgarian authorities violated the rights of Dimitar Pedev, a young television director who was detained by police during the July 2020 anti-government protests demanding the resignation of the Boyko Borissov Cabinet.

In the case of Pedev v. Bulgaria (Appeal No. 27165/21) the EHCR found that the applicant’s immobilization during his hospital stay and the alleged lack of an effective investigation represent a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court recalls that Article 3 of the Convention enshrines one of the fundamental values of democratic societies. This provision absolutely prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, regardless of the victim’s behavior. Even in the absence of bodily injury or severe physical or mental suffering, as soon as a treatment humiliates or debases an individual, showing a lack of respect for their human dignity or diminishing it, or causes feelings of fear, anguish, or inferiority likely to break their moral and physical resistance, it may be qualified as degrading and thus also fall within the prohibition under Article 3.

Тhe Court notes that the contested measure was applied on July 12, 2020, while the applicant had already been hospitalized for one day to be treated for a concussion accompanied by dizziness. Regarding the risk of flight, the Court observes that nothing indicates the applicant tried to leave the hospital after his admission on the morning of July 11, 2020. His supervision was constantly ensured by two agents: one was always inside the room near the window, and the other monitored the door from outside the room. Thus, even though the window of the room had no bars, considering the applicant’s condition, the permanent presence, number, and positioning of the agents appeared sufficient to counter any hypothetical risk of flight.

"In addition, the ECHR found a violation of Article 3 on a procedural aspect as no effective investigation was conducted into the allegations of police violence. It was only when, in 2022, the Court communicated the complaint to the Bulgarian authorities, the prosecution initiated pre-trial proceedings. The Court finds that the Bulgarian authorities thus admitted an implicit violation of Article 3 of the Convention in the procedural part relating to the preliminary investigation conducted in 2020 into the applicant's allegations. Moreover, according to the Court, the Government's observations in the case contain an explicit acknowledgement of the shortcomings of that investigation in relation to Article 3 of the Convention," the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, which represented Pedev before the ECHR, reported.

EHCR ordered that the respondent State pay the applicant, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final, the following amounts, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement:

EUR 6,500, plus any tax that may be chargeable on this amount, for non-pecuniary damage, to be paid into the bank account indicated by the applicant.

EUR 3,510.73, plus any tax that may be chargeable on this amount to the applicant, for costs and expenses, to be paid into the bank account of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.