The Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes of Ukraine were amended in December 2017 to adopt provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).
The Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes of Ukraine were amended in December 2017 to adopt provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). As a result of these amendments, new dangerous acts were criminalized. For example, Article 151-2 supplemented the special part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine by providing criminal liability for forced marriage.
The applicant was registered as a boy at birth in Ukraine, with a male name. Throughout the decision, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) referred to the applicant with male pronouns with which the applicant does not identify. This summary will use female pronouns in line with the applicant’s identity. According to the applicant, she never identified with the assigned male gender.
The plaintiff sued the defendant, his ex-wife, to exclude him from the child's birth certificate and to terminate his child support payments. According to the plaintiff, there was no blood relationship between him and the child. The court ordered a genetic examination was ordered to establish paternity. However, the defendant refused to conduct it and evaded taking biological samples from the child.
The applicant complained to the ECtHR that (i) he was ill-treated by police officers and (ii) the domestic authorities had failed to effectively investigate his allegations in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. The applicant had been arrested by police officers of the drug crimes unit and taken to a police station. According to the applicant, he was mistreated in order to make him confess. In particular, he alleged that he was threatened with rape, kicked and hit on the head and torso, threatened with weapons, and dropped face down on the floor while handcuffed.
The applicant alleged that police had tortured him and that the domestic authorities had failed to investigate his complaint in that regard. The applicant was apprehended by the police on suspicion of committing several robberies. According to the applicant, the Chief, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police Department, and other police officers tortured him during his detention at the police station. Police officers allegedly sought but failed to obtain a confession from him.
The applicant alleged that the police authorities had mistreated him and there had been no effective investigation into his complaints. Police officers arrested the applicant on suspicion of extortion. The officers took him to the police station, where he was questioned. While in the custody of the police, they called an ambulance for the applicant as he was complaining of kidney pains. As a result, the applicant underwent treatment at the hospital for a ruptured kidney, craniocerebral trauma, and post-traumatic nearsightedness.
