SELMOUNI v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 21 FINAL SUBMISSIONS TO THE COURT 68. In their memorial the Government asked the Court to state that, with respect to the complaint based on Article 3 of the Convention, the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies and, in the alternative, that the offences with which the police officers in question were charged could not be classified as “torture”. The Government acknowledged that the total length of the proceedings was excessive from the standpoint of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. 69. The applicant requested the Court to find that there had been a violation of Articles 3 and 6 § 1 of the Convention and to award him just satisfaction under Article 41. THE LAW I. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION 70. The applicant complained that the manner in which he had been treated while in police custody had given rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention, according to which: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” A. The Government’s preliminary objection 71. The Government’s main submission, which was the same as that made before the Commission, was that the complaint based on Article 3 could not be examined by the Court as the case stood because the applicant had not exhausted domestic remedies. The Government submitted that the applicant’s application to join the criminal proceedings against the police officers as a civil party was an ordinary remedy sufficient to afford redress for the alleged damage. It had to be acknowledged, they argued, that there had been major developments in the proceedings since the Commission’s findings of 25 November 1996. They considered, however, that there were no “special circumstances” in the present case allowing the Convention institutions to absolve the applicant from the obligation to exhaust domestic remedies (see the Akdivar and Others v. Turkey judgment of 16 September 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-IV). The Government submitted that they could not be accused of remaining “totally passive” since an administrative inquiry had been undertaken on the initiative of the