Published on 25 April 2022

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 44444/20 Vera CERCHEZ against the Republic of Moldova lodged on 1 October 2020 communicated on 6 April 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the alleged use of excessive force against the applicant by the police and the failure to carry out an effective investigation into her allegation of ill-treatment.

The applicant was in a bar and had consumed alcohol. She resisted the order by three police officers to follow them to the local police station, after which her hands were screwed behind her back and she was allegedly hit into her head and lost her consciousness. Medical documents from the day after her release confirmed a head trauma and a police officer testified having heard her complain about pain in the back of her head and in the chest.

The applicant’s complaint about ill-treatment by the police was dismissed three times by the prosecutor’s office and each time a court or a higher-ranking prosecutor annulled the decision. Eventually, the case was treated as an administrative one concerning excess of powers; the proceedings were discontinued for lack of evidence, after six years of examination.

The applicant complains of a breach of Article 3 of the Convention in both its substantive and procedural limbs as a result of the excessive use of force against her by the police and the inefficient investigation into her allegation of ill-treatment.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention? In particular, was excessive force used against the applicant? Has there been an efficient investigation into her allegation of ill-treatment? ( Prepelița v. The Republic of Moldova , no. 50799/14, 3 December 2019)