Information Note on the Court’s case-law 51

March 2003

R.L. and M.-J.D. v. France (dec.) - 44568/98

Decision 20.3.2003 [Section III]

Article 5

Article 5-1-e

Persons of unsound mind

Confinement in psychiatric clinic of a restaurateur arrested in connection with a dispute with another restaurateur: admissible

Article 3

Degrading treatment

Alleged ill-treatment during police intervention in dispute between restau ranteurs: admissible

The applicants, who are Parisian restaurateurs, were ordered to report to the police station for causing disturbances following a series of incidents involving neighbouring restaurateurs. The applicants, who were exasperated, failed to attend. Subsequently three police officers in plain clothes went to the applicants’ restaurant and used force in disputed circumstances. Eventually, the first applicant was taken to the police station. He was admitted to the psychiatric unit of a hospital during the night. The following morning he was taken back to the police station and released. The applicants had medical certificates drawn up showing that they were suffering from physical contusions. They lodged a complaint together with an application for civil damages for unlawful or unjustified arrest and imprisonment, assault and violence rendering them wholly unfit for work for more than one week, with the additional factor that the assault had been committed by police officers. The prosecution open ed an investigation for interference with freedoms, unlawful arrest, unjustified imprisonment, unlawful assault and misuse of authority. The medical inquiries established the existence of multiple physical injuries rendering the victims wholly unfit for wo rk, for ten days in the case of the first (male) applicant and for six days in the case of the second (female) applicant. The prosecution requested the investigating judge to discharge the accused: investigations had revealed that the police officers had b een obliged to use force in reaction to aggression and resistance displayed by the applicants; accordingly, the violence used by the police was not unlawful and did not constitute a criminal offence; it likewise followed from the psychiatric examination ca rried out before the applicant was taken from the police station to the psychiatric hospital that his state of excitement lawfully justified his being taken there. The investigating judge’s order discharging the accused was upheld on appeal. The applicants unsuccessfully appealed on a point of law.

Admissible under Articles 3, 5 § 1 (c) and (e), and 5 § 5.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes