Published on 30 January 2023

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 54015/17 Aleksandr Aleksandrovich ORLOV against Ukraine lodged on 4 November 2017 communicated on 13 January 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns several episodes raising issues under Article 3 of the Convention.

(a) During the applicant’s pre-trial detention:

- On 24 December 2012 the applicant was allegedly attacked and beaten by another detainee in the vehicle during his transportation from the court to the Odesa Pre-Trial Detention Centre (“the Odesa SIZO”). According to him, on the following day he was diagnosed with a microfracture in his right eardrum. Having been initially launched on 9 September 2013, the criminal investigation into the incident was discontinued and resumed on many occasions, most recently on 5 May 2021, with numerous omissions and shortcomings in it having been pointed out. Its progress and outcome thereafter are unknown.

- On 15 August 2015 the applicant was beaten by his cellmate in the SIZO, allegedly at the instigation of the SIZO administration. According to the applicant, he had a brain concussion and an upper lip injury. A criminal investigation into the incident was launched on 16 August 2015. It was discontinued but later resumed, possibly on several occasions. In September 2019 the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office informed the applicant that the investigation was going on.

- On 18 December 2015 another incident took place in the vehicle for detainees’ transportation to the court. Once the applicant entered it, somebody threw in his face liquid appearing to be brilliant green antiseptic. Given that the applicant had acute pain in the eyes and did not feel well, an ambulance was called for him and the hearing was adjourned. Several days later the applicant found an anonymous handwritten note in his cell with threats to his life, which stated that the liquid in question had been infected with HIV. On 24 April 2017 the Odesa Prymorskyy District Court found that the prosecution authorities had committed an illegal omission by having failed to launch an investigation into the applicant’s complaints in that regard. Having been eventually launched on 28 April 2016, the criminal investigation into the incident was discontinued and resumed on many occasions and is apparently still pending.

- On 15 March 2016 the applicant tried to strangulate himself. He complained to the prosecution authorities that, by the allegedly poor conditions of detention, permanent humiliation and unfair attitude, the SIZO governor had been driving him to suicide. A criminal investigation was launched into that allegation on 30 March 2016. It was discontinued and resumed on many occasions, most recently on 19 April 2019.

(b) After the applicant’s release (25 May 2016):

- On 28 December 2017 the applicant became a victim of a traffic accident when crossing a road near the Odesa SIZO, where, according to him, he had been carrying out a journalist investigation. He was hospitalised with serious head injuries, which entailed his amnesia in respect of the accident’s circumstances. The criminal investigation, which was launched on 14 March 2018 following the applicant’s complaints, established (in particular, on the basis of witness evidence and video records) that, prior to the accident, he had been persecuted by several agents of the Odesa Regional Unit of the State Security Service. The investigation was discontinued and resumed many times, most recently on 17 July 2020, and apparently remains pending.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was the applicant subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment proscribed by Article 3 of the Convention during his pre-trial detention?

2. Did the respondent State comply with its duty to protect the physical well-being of the applicant in detention as a person in a vulnerable position by virtue of being within the control of the authorities, as required by Article 3 of the Convention (see Premininy v. Russia , no. 44973/04, § 73, 10 February 2011)?

3. Did the circumstances of the traffic accident of 28 December 2017, which resulted in the applicant’s serious injuries, engage the State’s responsibility under Article 3 of the Convention?

4. Having regard to the procedural protection from inhuman or degrading treatment (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 131, ECHR 2000‑IV), was the investigation undertaken by the domestic authorities into the incidents with the applicant in detention, as well as into the traffic accident of 28 December 2017, in compliance with Article 3 of the Convention?

Your Government are requested to submit copies of all the relevant documents which are presently not in the case file before the Court.