European Court of Human Rights: case of Bouyid v. Belgium Grand Chamber hearing concerning alleged slapping during police interview well this happens here in the European Union, even in Netherlands, there have been many incidents of Polices violations of UN treaty against torture, even debated in the City Council of The Hague, where victims could speak out KAC The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber1 hearing today Wednesday 8 October 2014 at 9.15 a.m. in the case of Bouyid v. Belgium (application no. 23380/09) After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which will be held in private. Its ruling in the case will, however, be made at a later stage. The applicants, Saïd and Mohamed Bouyid, are two brothers, Belgian nationals, who were born in 1986 and 1979 and live in the municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, part of the Bruxelles-Capitale district. The applicants allege in particular that they were slapped on the face by police officers, one on 8 December 2003 and the other on 23 February 2004, when they were in Saint- Josse-ten-Noode police station, and point out that these incidents occurred in a context of tense relations between their family and certain police officers in that station, of which they were neighbours. They maintain that they were victims of degrading treatment. They further complain about the investigation into their complaints, describing it as ineffective, incomplete and biased, and criticise its duration. They rely in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Procedure The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 28 April 2009. In its Chamber judgment of 21 November 2013, the Court held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 3 of the Convention. It observed that police officers who struck individuals during questioning had committed, at the very least, a breach of ethics and showed a deplorable lack of professionalism. However, even supposing that the slapping had taken place, it had been inflicted unthinkingly by police officers who were exasperated by the applicants’ disrespectful or provocative conduct, without seeking to make them confess. It had, moreover, taken place in an atmosphere of tension between members of the applicants’ families and the local police. In those circumstances, even though one of the applicants had been only 17 at the time and whilst it was comprehensible that, if the events really took place as the applicants described, they must have felt deep resentment, these had been one-off occurrences in a situation of nervous tension and without any serious or long-term effect. The Court concluded that such acts, although they had been unacceptable, could not be regarded as generating a sufficient degree of humiliation or debasement for a breach of Article 3 of the Convention to be established. On 24 March 2014 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the request of the applicants. 1 Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17-member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer.2 Composition of the Court The case will be heard by a Grand Chamber, composed as follows: Dean Spielmann (Luxembourg), President, Guido Raimondi (Italy), Ineta Ziemele (Latvia), Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre (Monaco), Alvina Gyulumyan (Armenia), Ledi Bianku (Albania), Nona Tsotsoria (Georgia) Nebojša Vučinić (Montenegro), Vincent A. de Gaetano (Malta), Erik Møse (Norway), Helen Keller (Switzerland), Paul Lemmens (Belgium), Paul Mahoney (the United Kingdom), Krzysztof Wojtyczek (Poland), Faris Vehabović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Egidijus Kūris (Lithuania), Iulia Antoanella Motoc (Romania), judges, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (Portugal), Jon Fridrik Kjølbro (Denmark) Johannes Silvis (the Netherlands), substitute judges, and also Johan Callewaert, Deputy Grand Chamber Registrar. Representatives of the parties Government Isabelle Niedlispacher, Co-Agent; Applicants Christophe Marchand and Zouhaier Chihaoui, Counsel. Shahreen Khan, Hetty Verlinde
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 08:41:43 +0000
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