20
MAKARATZIS v. GREECE JUDGMENT
1975, had committed numerous terrorist acts, including the assassination of
United States officials in 1975, 1983, 1988 and 1991.
27. On 24 July 2003 Law no. 3169/2003, which is entitled “Carrying
and use of firearms by police officers, training of police officers in the use
of firearms and other provisions”, came into force. Law no. 29/1943 was
repealed (section 8). Further, in April 2004, the “Pocket Book on Human
Rights for the Police”, which was prepared by the United Nations Centre for
Human Rights, was translated into Greek with a view to being distributed to
Greek policemen.
III. RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICE
28. Article 6 § 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights provides:
“Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by
law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”
29. In this connection, the Human Rights Committee of the United
Nations noted the following (see General Comment no. 6, Article 6,
16th Session (1982), § 3):
“The protection against arbitrary deprivation of life which is explicitly required by
the third sentence of Article 6 § 1 is of paramount importance. The Committee
considers that States Parties should take measures not only to prevent and punish
deprivation of life by criminal acts, but also to prevent arbitrary killing by their own
security forces. The deprivation of life by the authorities of the State is a matter of the
utmost gravity. Therefore, the law must strictly control and limit the circumstances in
which a person may be deprived of his life by such authorities.”
30. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and
Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (“United Nations Force and
Firearms Principles”) were adopted on 7 September 1990 by the Eighth
United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of
Offenders. Paragraph 9 of the Principles provides:
“Law-enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in selfdefence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to
prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to
arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his
or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these
objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when
strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”
31. Paragraph 5 of the Principles provides, inter alia, that lawenforcement officials shall “act in proportion to the seriousness of the
offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved”. Under the terms of
paragraph 7, “governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force
and firearms by law-enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offence
under their law”. Paragraph 11 (b) states that national rules and regulations