Khodyukevich v. Russia (Application no. 74282/11) (Judgment in French only)

The judgment is only available in French. Find the press release in English below.

Excerpt(s) from the press statement can be found below the document(s).

The Court also found that it had been essential to entrust the investigation to a body or to officials not belonging to the same police unit as the officers likely to be implicated, and that this should have been done as soon as the investigating authority became aware that Mr Alchin had been taken to the police station. The Court stressed that the initial stage of an investigation, namely the point at which the evidence was gathered and preserved, was crucial and that a lack of independence at this stage was liable to compromise the investigation’s findings.

The Court also found that the national authorities had not failed in their positive obligation to safeguard Mr Alchin’s life. There had therefore been no violation of the substantive aspect of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

In the present case the first steps in the investigation had been taken by an immediate colleague of the persons likely to come under suspicion. In order to maintain public confidence in the transparency of investigations and rule out any suspicion of collusion, it had been essential for the investigation to be entrusted to a body or to officials not belonging to the same police unit. That should have been done as soon as the investigating authority became aware that Mr Alchin had been taken to the police station. Moreover, the subsequent intervention of the investigating committee in the investigation had not been capable of remedying this defect, which had affected the investigation from the outset. There had therefore been a violation of the procedural aspect of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention on account of the lack of independence ofthe police investigation