Постановление Европейского суда по правам человека от 30.07.2009 «Дело Владимир Федоров (Vladimir Fedorov) против России» [англ.]

d the applicant's allegations to be untrue, it was open to them to refute them by providing their own plausible version of events and submitting, for instance, witness testimony and other evidence to corroborate their version. Indeed, the Government did not provide any explanation as to how the applicant had acquired the injuries. Furthermore, although the effectiveness of the investigation into the applicant's ill-treatment complaints will be examined below, the Court would already stress at this juncture that it is struck by the fact that, despite the seriousness of the applicant's allegations, the investigating authority did not advance any version of events, while declining to institute criminal proceedings against the police officers. It apparently did not occur to either the investigators or the trial and appeal courts that the applicant's injuries should be accounted for. The Court further notes that it was open to the respondent Government to submit a copy of the complete investigation file relating to the applicant's ill-treatment complaints. The Government, citing the destruction of the documents, failed to provide the Court with the materials, confining themselves to submitting a copy of the decision issued by the head of the Prokopyevsk Town Police Department on 7 April 2003, approving the findings of the official police inquiry into the applicant's complaints.
65. In these circumstances, bearing in mind the authorities' obligation to account for injuries caused to persons within their control in custody, and in the absence of a convincing and plausible explanation by the Government in the instant case, the Court considers that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct and finds it established to the standard of proof required in the Convention proceedings that the injuries sustained by the applicant were the result of the treatment of which he complained and for which the Government bore responsibility (see Selmouni v. France [GC], No. 25803/94, § 88, ECHR 1999-V; Mehmet Emin {Yuksel} v. Turkey, No. 40154/98, § 30, 20 July 2004; Mikheyev, cited above, §§ 104 - 105; and Dedovskiy and Others v. Russia, No. 7178/03, §§ 78 - 79, 15 May 2008). The Court shall therefore proceed to the examination of the merits of the case on the basis of the applicant's submissions and the existing elements in the file.
(b) Alleged inadequacy of the investigation
66. In paragraphs 55 and 59 above, the Court found that the questions whether the applicant complied with the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies in spite of failing to lodge a civil action seeking compensation for damage caused by the alleged ill-treatment, and whether his complaints under Article 3 of the Convention were premature in view of the ongoing investigation at national level, were closely linked to the question whether the investigation into the events at issue was effective. It thus decided to join those issues to the merits and will examine them now. Before embarking on an analysis of how the investigation unfolded, the Court considers it necessary to reiterate the principles which govern the authorities' duty to investigate ill-treatment occurring as a result of the use of force by State agents.
67. The Court reiterates that where an individual raises an arguable claim that he has been seriously ill-treated in breach of Article 3, that provision, read in conjunction with the State's general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to "secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in... [the] Convention", requires by implication that there should be an effective official investigation. An obligation to investigate "is not an obligation of result, but of means": not every investigation should necessarily be successful or come to a conclusion which coincides with the claimant's account of events; however, it should in princ



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