Facts
The case concerns a Turkish national, X., who filed a criminal complaint against two police officers, A. and B., for acts of physical violence that occurred on 11 February 2005. X. alleged that he was treated in a degrading manner by the police officers, who allegedly hit him and threw him to the ground. The police officers denied these allegations, claiming that X. had injured himself by falling.
The Indictment Chamber of the canton of St. Gall rejected the opening of a criminal investigation against the police officers, considering that the evidence was insufficient to support X.'s allegations.
X. then filed a public law appeal with the Federal Court, alleging a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits degrading treatment.
Considerations
The Federal Court considered that X. had standing to act, as a victim of the alleged violation of Article 3 ECHR. The Court also considered that X.'s allegations were sufficiently plausible to justify an in-depth official investigation.
The Court found that the cantonal authorities had not conducted an effective and in-depth investigation, as they had only taken into account the written statements of the police officers and had not carried out further investigations. The Court considered that this constituted a violation of…