10
RUDYAK v. UKRAINE JUDGMENT
accordingly been a violation of the substantive limb of Article 3 of the
Convention.
2. Adequacy of the investigation
60. The applicant reiterated that his complaints of ill-treatment had
remained unanswered. He had not appealed against the decision of
27 June 2006 because he had not received a copy of it.
61. The Government reiterated their observations that the applicant had
failed to exhaust effective domestic remedies (see paragraphs 35-36 above).
62. The Court reiterates that where an individual raises an arguable
claim that he has been seriously ill-treated by State authorities in breach of
Article 3, that provision, read in conjunction with the State’s general duty
under Article 1 of the Convention, requires by implication that there should
be an effective official investigation. As with an investigation subject to
Article 2 of the Convention, such an investigation should be capable of
leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible
(see Assenov and Others v. Bulgaria, 28 October 1998, § 102, Reports of
Judgments and Decisions 1998-VIII, and Labita, cited above).
63. In the present case the applicant raised his complaints of illtreatment by police officers a month and a half after the events in question
(see paragraph 15 above). In particular, on several occasions he submitted
that on 12 May 2005 he had asked the investigation officer to record the
severity of the injuries inflicted on him. The applicant further complained of
ill-treatment in October 2005. These complaints do not appear to be
unfounded; however, there is no evidence that they were properly answered.
64. The Court further notes that after the national court ordered an
investigation into the applicant’s complaints on 19 April 2006, the
investigation authorities erroneously indicated that the applicant had never
complained of ill-treatment before. The investigation was limited to
questioning of the police officers involved, who denied that they had
subjected the applicant to any ill-treatment.
65. Thus, the Court considers that the applicant had an arguable claim
which he had brought before the national authorities. The national court had
an opportunity to examine the applicant’s complaints in this respect and
ordered an investigation, which, however, appeared to be superficial.
66. The Court further notes that the applicant was not informed of the
decision of 27 June 2006 and learned about it no earlier than towards the
end of 2006 or in the first half of 2007.
67. The Court considers, being mindful of its subsidiary role, that the
applicant’s complaints of ill-treatment ought to have been examined by a
domestic court on at least one occasion. In the present case the domestic
court had the applicant’s complaints before it, found them to be arguable
and ordered an investigation, which turned out to be futile. The Court
considers that in such circumstances the applicant was not required to bring