CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE SAJÓ

Whilst I agree with the majority that Article 3 has been violated in the present case, I find that the violation is of a procedural nature: the Turkish authorities did not carry out a proper investigation in a case where the information available was contradictory regarding the origin of the injuries sustained by the applicant while under the control of the police. To quote from the judgment: “ The Court considers that a plausible explanation for injuries caused by agents of the State in the course of their law enforcement duties can be said to have been provided when it is proved to the Court ’ s satisfaction by the respondent Government that their national authorities have conducted an effective investigation capable of establishing the circumstances and the nature of the force used. In particular, the Court will expect the investigating authorities to have ascertained the actual cause of the injuries and also to have established that the recourse to physical force had been made strictly necessary as a result of the victim ’ s own conduct ...” (see paragraph 32). The very issue for the Court was, therefore, a procedural one and all it could conclude was that there had been no proper investigation. In situations like the present where there is evidence that the applicant resisted arrest and was likely to have sustained injuries after he ran away from the police, the injuries (which he reported to a judge with considerable delay) do not impose a full burden of proof on the Government, as the applicant did not substantiate that the injuries had originated from acts which were independent of his resistance to arrest.