CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE DE MEYER

(Translation)

It would be unfortunate if paragraphs 107 to 115 of the judgment were to leave the impression that blows inflicted on a suspect in police custody are prohibited only in so far as they exceed a cert ain "minimum level of severity" [1] , for example on account of the "large number" of s uch blows and their "intensity" [2] .

Any use of physical force in respect of a person deprived of his liberty which is not made strictly necessary as a result of his own conduct [3] violates human dignity and must therefore be regarded as a breach of the right guaranteed under Artic le 3 (art. 3) of the Convention [4] .

At the most the severity of the treatment is relevant in determining, where appropriate, whether there has been tortur e [5] .

[*]  The case is numbered 27/1991/279/350.  The first number is the case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court in the relevant year (second number).  The last two numbers indicate the case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court since its creation and on the list of the corresponding originating applications to the Commission.

[*]   As amended by Article 11 of Protocol No. 8 (P8-11), which came into force on 1 January 1990 .

[*]  Note by the Registrar: for practical reasons this annex will appear only with the printed version of the judgment (volume 241-A of Series A of the Publications of the Court), but a copy of the Commission's report is available from the registry.

[1] Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment of 18 January 1978 , Series A no. 25, p. 65, para. 162.  See also paragraphs 91 and 102 of the Commission's report in the present case.

[2] Paragraph 115 of the present judgment.

[3] For instance in the case of an "escape attempt" or "an act carried out ... against himself" (possibilities envisaged at paragraph 110 of the judgment) or against another person.

[4] Even if the violence consists only of "slaps or blows of the hand to the head or face".  It is somewhat surprising that the Commission felt able to condone such "roughness"; see in this connection its reports of 1969 in the Greek case, Yearbook, vol. 12, p. 501, and of 1976 in the Ireland v. the United Kingdom case, Series B no. 23-I, pp. 388-389.

[5] Torture constitutes "an aggravated ... form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment": Article 1 para. 1 of Resolution 3452 (XXX), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1975 .  See also the Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment, cited above, pp. 66-67, para. 167, and the separate opinions of Judges Zekia, O'Donoghue and Evrigenis, ibid., pp. 97, 106 and 136, as well as the above-mentioned Commission reports in the Greek case, p. 186, and the Ireland v. United Kingdom case, p. 388.