European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

CASE OF AZOVTSEVA v. UKRAINE

(Application no. 64932/12)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

14 October 2021

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Azovtseva v. Ukraine,

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

          Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, President,
          Jovan Ilievski,
          Mattias Guyomar, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 23 September 2021,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in an application against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 7 April 2013.

2.  The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the application.

THE FACTS

3.  The applicant’s details and information relevant to the application are set out in the appended table.

4.  The applicant complained of the ineffective investigation into the death of her husband, who died in a road traffic accident.

THE LAW

I.        ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 2 § 1 of the Convention

5.  The applicant complained of the ineffective investigation into the death of her husband, who died in a road traffic accident. She relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

6.  The Court, which is master of the characterisation to be given in law to the facts of the case, finds that the complaints at issue fall to be examined under Article 2 of the Convention (see Igor Shevchenko v. Ukraine, no. 22737/04, § 38, 12 January 2012). This provision, in so far as relevant, reads as follows:

Article 2 § 1

“1.  Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.”

7.  The Court notes at the outset that the present case falls to be examined from the perspective of the State’s obligation to conduct an effective investigation under the procedural limb of Article 2 of the Convention. The relevant general principles concerning the effectiveness of the investigation were summarized in Mustafa Tunç and Fecire Tunç v. Turkey [GC] (no. 24014/05, §§ 169-82, 14 April 2015). In particular, once the investigative obligation is triggered, compliance with the procedural requirement of Article 2 is assessed on the basis of several essential parameters: the adequacy of the investigative measures, the promptness of the investigation, the involvement of the deceased person’s family, and the independence of the investigation. These elements are inter‑related and each of them, taken separately, does not amount to an end in itself (ibid., § 225).

8.  Moreover, this is not an obligation of results to be achieved but of means to be employed. The Court accepts that not every investigation is necessarily successful or comes to a conclusion coinciding with the claimant’s account of events. However, it should, in principle, be capable of leading to the establishment of the facts of the case and, if the allegations prove to be true, to the identification and punishment of those responsible (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom, no. 46477/99, § 71, ECHR 2002-II).

9.  In the leading cases of Basyuk v. Ukraine (no. 51151/10, 5 November 2015), Pozhyvotko v. Ukraine (no. 42752/08, 17 October 2013) and Kachurka v. Ukraine (no. 4737/06, 15 September 2011), the Court already found violations in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

10.  Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Reviewing the facts of the present case in the light of these principles established in its case-law (see paragraphs 7-9 above), and also taking into account the Government’s objection as to the difficulty to obtain the full case-file from the applicant’s case, the Court considers that the documents submitted by the applicant and relating to the period of the investigation before 2014 are sufficient for it to conclude that the investigation already in the period between 2007 and 2014 was marked by various shortcomings, which had undermined the ability of the investigating authorities to establish the circumstances surrounding the death of the applicant’s husband, and who, if anyone, was responsible. The specific shortcomings are indicated in the appended table. In the light of that conclusion the Court does not need to look at the investigation after 2014. Having regard to its case-law on the subject and the materials before it, the Court considers that in the instant case the investigation failed to meet the criteria of effectiveness.

11.  These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 2 of the Convention under its procedural limb.

II.     APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

12.  Article 41 of the Convention provides:

“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”

13.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Basyuk v. Ukraine, cited above, §§ 74-80), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sum indicated in the appended table and it rejects any additional claims for just satisfaction raised by the applicant.

14.  The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

1.      Declares the application admissible;

2.      Holds that this application discloses a breach of Article 2 § 1 of the Convention concerning the ineffective investigation into the death of the applicant’s husband;

3.      Holds

(a)  that the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months, the amount indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;

(b)  that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amount at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

4.      Dismisses the remainder of the applicant’s claims for just satisfaction.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 14 October 2021, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina                                               Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström
Acting Deputy Registrar                                                            President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 2 § 1 of the Convention

(ineffective investigation into death, caused by private parties or in circumstances that exclude involvement of State agents)