JOINT CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGES CASADEVALL AND LÓPEZ GUERRA

We agree with the Grand Chamber ruling, as well as with the reasoning supporting it. We consider however that, as regards the violation of the procedural aspect of Article 3 of the Convention on account of the failure of the respondent State to carry out an effective investigation into the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment, no separate analysis as performed by the Grand Chamber in paragraph 191 of the judgment was necessary with respect to the existence of a “right to the truth” as something different from, or additional to, the requisites already established in such matters by the previous case-law of the Court.

According to the Court’s case-law, as reflected in the present judgment (see paragraphs 182 et seq.), an investigation into alleged ill-treatment must in any event represent a serious attempt to establish the facts of the case concerning the cause of the injuries suffered and the identity of the persons responsible. It seems evident to us that all this required activity amounts to finding out the truth of the matter, irrespective of the relevance or importance of the particular case for the general public, and therefore a separate analysis of the right to the truth becomes redundant.

The right to a serious investigation, equivalent to the right to the truth, derives from the protection provided by the case-law of the Court in the application of the Convention for victims of deprivation of life (Article 2) or of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 3); this applies equally in cases which have attracted wide public coverage and in other cases which have not been subject to the same degree of public attention. Therefore, as far as the right to the truth is concerned, it is the victim, and not the general public, who is entitled to this right as resulting from Article 3 of the Convention, in the light of the Court’s case-law.

[1] . See the observations of the third-party interveners, paragraphs 175-79 of the judgment.

[2] . Official Journal of the European Communities L 082, 22 March 2001.