CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 16 janvier 2014

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RUSSIA   (Application no. 5269/08)       JUDGMENT     This version was rectified on 28 February 2014 under Rule 81 of the Rules of Court         STRASBOURG   16 January 2014   FINAL   02/06/2014   This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.   In the case of Shchiborshch and Kuzmina v. Russia, The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre, President,   Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,   Julia Laffranque,   Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos,   Erik Møse,   Ksenija Turković,   Dmitry Dedov, judges and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 17 December 2013, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no. 5269/08) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Russian nationals, Mr Viktor Ivanovich Shchiborshch and Mrs Valentina Nikolaevna [1] Kuzmina (“the applicants”), on 17 January 2008. 2.     The applicants were represented by Ms O.A. Sadovskaya, a lawyer practising in Nizhny Novgorod. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr   G.   Matyushkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights. 3.     On 29 January 2009 the Court decided to apply Rule   41 of the Rules of Court and grant priority treatment to the application. 4.     On 26 June 2009 the President of the First Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. THE FACTS I.     THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 5.     The applicants were born in 1939 and 1944 respectively and live in Dubna, the Moscow Region. A.     Death of Mr Kirill Shchiborshch 6.     The applicants are a married couple. They are the parents of Mr   Shchiborshch, who was an economist and the author of a number of publications. At the time of the events he was thirty-seven years old and suffering from a psychiatric disorder which required in-patient treatment. 7.     On 7 July 2006 the first applicant, having obtained a referral from Moscow’s Psychoneurological Dispensary no. 10 recommending in-patient treatment for Mr Shchiborshch, contacted the Nagatinskiy Zaton department of the interior (“the OVD”) and asked the police to assist with placing his son in a psychiatric hospital. He explained that Mr Shchiborshch was in a delirious state and was not letting anyone except the first applicant into his flat as he was afraid of burglars. 8.     Between 11.20 a.m. and 12.40 p.m. on 7 July 2006 the head of the OVD ordered police officer G. to forcibly place Mr Shchiborshch in a hospital. Subsequently police officers G., L. and D. arrived at the residence of the applicants’ son. When Mr   Shchiborshch opened the lobby door and saw the police officers, he immediately ran back to his flat and tried to close the door. He refused their orders to go to the OVD for transfer to a hospital. First, the police officers tried to remove his hand from the door knob so that he could not close the door. Mr Shchiborshch threatened the police officers with a kitchen knife and wounded G. The police officers, who were wearing bullet-proof vests, hit him with rubber truncheons and other objects. Mr   Shchiborshch eventually ran to the kitchen and barricaded the door from the inside. The officers called the special police unit (“the OMSN”) for support. 9.     While in the kitchen, Mr Shchiborshch called an ambulance and said that he needed help because he had been wounded. He also called the police, asking for help because he was being “attacked by burglars”. In the meantime, the OMSN arrived. After trying unsuccessfully to negotiate with him, they decided to “storm” the kitchen. Mr Shchiborshch ran to the balcony and cried for help while the police officers continued trying to apprehend him. When he fell on the balcony floor, they handcuffed him and put him on the kitchen floor. The first applicant, who had been ordered to stay in the lobby while the police forced an entry to the kitchen, was then allowed into the kitchen. He saw his son handcuffed and lying on the floor in a pool of blood. 10.     Mr Shchiborshch was taken to hospital no. 7 with multiple wounds and in a coma. He died without regaining consciousness, having sustained craniocerebral trauma, brain oedema, concussion, and slash wounds to the head, body and extremities, several fractured ribs and a ruptured jugular vein. B.     Investigation of the death of Mr Shchiborshch and independent measures taken by the applicants 11.     On 7 July 2006 the case file concerning the death of Mr   Shchiborshch was transmitted to the Simonovskiy Inter-District Prosecutor’s Office. 12.     On the same date the investigating authorities ordered a forensic examination of Mr   Shchiborshch’s body. 13.     On 10 July 2006 forensic report no. 1262 was issued. The experts made the following findings: (1)     The following injuries were found on Mr   Shchiborshch’s body: -     open non-penetrating craniocerebral trauma: depressed fracture of the left frontal and parietal bones, fracture of the sphenoid and parietal bones, and the orbital part of the frontal bone; sub-arachnoid haemorrhages and contusion of the convex surface of the left frontal lobe and the surface of the right frontal lobe, haemorrhaging of the soft tissue and bruising of the left frontal parietal and temporal region; bruising of the frontal region, bruising and abrasions of the right frontal region, and the top of the right eye socket; haemorrhaging of the soft tissue of the parietal-temporal region on the right; -     closed fractures of the sixth, eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh ribs; -     bruising of the right cheekbone; -     bruising of the right and left shoulder joints, and the left shoulder, the surface of the right hip, the inside of the right knee joint, the front of the right and left shin, the front of the left hip; bruising and abrasions of the left cheekbone and periotic-masticatory region, abrasions of the chin, intra-cutaneous haemorrhages of the chest, bruising and abrasions on the right forearm, right hand, and left arm; -     a 3 cm-long punctured slash wound to the left side of the neck; -     multiple surface slash wounds on the right earlobe, left cheekbone and periotic-masticatory region, the lower jaw, chest, shoulders and hands. (2)     All the injuries were caused while Mr   Shchiborshch was alive, shortly before his admittance to hospital: -     the craniocerebral trauma was caused by multiple blows with hard blunt objects; -     the rib fractures and the bruising of the right cheekbone, head, body and extremities were caused by blows, and the abrasions by scraping against a hard blunt object (or objects); -     the punctured slash wound to the left side of the neck was caused by a sharp cutting object inflicted upwards from the front to the back and from left to right, assuming that Mr   Shchiborshch was in a vertical position; -     the multiple surface slash wounds were caused by a cutting object or objects; -     forensic and spectral research of the soft tissue of the wounds to the head, neck and right hand did not reveal any micro splinters of glass or other foreign bodies. Emission spectral analysis showed an increased content of aluminium, lead and manganese in the skin of the head, which could have been caused by soiling. Other specimens of skin and soft tissue did not reveal an increased metal content; -     after the injuries had been caused, Mr   Shchiborshch was taken to hospital in a coma, incapable of any independent actions, including movement. The injuries could not have been caused as a result of falling from his height to a horizontal surface. In order to establish the possible location of the victim and the aggressor at the time when the injuries were caused, it was necessary to have access to the materials of the file. (3)     The open craniocerebral trauma and the punctured slash wound to the left side of the neck which damaged a blood vessel combined to form a life-threatening trauma classified as grave health damage. The rib fractures were classified as health damage of medium gravity. As the bruises and abrasions were not accompanied by heavy bleeding and no blood vessels were damaged, they were not considered to constitute health damage. (4)     Mr   Shchiborshch’s death at 4.15 p.m. on 7 July 2006 was caused by the combined trauma, complicated by cerebral oedema and blood loss. (5)     There was a direct causal link between the craniocerebral trauma, the punctured slash wound to the left side of the neck with a damaged blood vessel, and his death. There was no direct link between his death and the other injuries. 14.     Forensic report no. 1262 was supplemented by a chemical and histological analysis of his blood and soft tissue conducted on 13 and 24   July 2006 respectively. 15.     On 17 July 2006 the Simonovskiy Inter-District Prosecutor’s Office refused to institute a criminal investigation. It found that the police officers’ actions disclosed no indication of an offence, since they had acted in an appropriate manner in a life-threatening situation. 16.     On 24 July 2006 the deputy of the Simonovskiy inter-district prosecutor set aside the decision and remitted the case file for further investigation. He held that the decision was unfounded since not all the circumstances of the case had been established. In particular, it was necessary to obtain the results of the forensic examination of the body and to question the doctor from Psychoneurological Dispensary no. 10 who had recommended in-patient treatment. 17.     On 3 August 2006 the Simonovskiy Inter-District Prosecutor’s Office instituted a criminal investigation under Article 108 § 2 (murder committed in excess of necessary self-defence or in excess of measures required to arrest a person who has committed an offence) and Article 286 §   3 (abuse of official powers) of the Criminal Code. The decision stated that, by storming the flat and using rubber truncheons, which led to Mr   Shchiborshch’s death, the police officers had clearly exceeded their authority. The case file was assigned no. 363484. 18.     On 10 August 2006 police officer D. was questioned. According to his submissions, at approximately 12.40 p.m. on 7 July 2006 he and police officers G. and L. had been ordered to deliver a mentally-ill person to a hospital. They went to that person’s place of residence together with the latter’s father, the first applicant, who had given them oral permission to enter the flat. On arrival, they put on bullet-proof vests, and the first applicant rang at the lobby door. Mr Shchiborshch walked to the door and asked who was there. The first applicant replied that it was him. Mr   Shchiborshch said that he would open the door and after a while began to open it. G. was standing at the door; L. was behind him and D. was standing to one side. When the door was opened, G. tried to enter but then shouted: “Knife!” Mr Shchiborshch ran to the door of his flat wielding a knife. He tried to close the door to his flat, but L. stopped him. Mr   Shchiborshch then went to the kitchen and barricaded himself inside. D. reported the events to the OVD and called an ambulance, which arrived in approximately twenty minutes; G. was given first aid and taken to hospital. L. blocked the door so that Mr   Shchiborshch could not leave the flat and harm anyone else, awaiting the arrival of the special police unit. When the special unit arrived, the regular police officers were asked to leave the lobby. D. could not identify the officers of the special police unit as they were all wearing uniforms and their faces were covered with masks. D. did not see what happened in the flat. He was ordered to return to the OVD. 19.     On 13 August 2006 police officer Kh. of the special unit was questioned. He stated that on 7 July 2006 he had been on duty. At 1.50 p.m. he received information that a mentally-ill person had wounded a police officer, barricaded himself in his kitchen and resisted involuntary placement in a hospital. Together with special unit police officers B., D-n. and S., he arrived at the address indicated at approximately 2.35   p.m. He stayed in the car while the head of the team, D-n., went to find out what the situation was. Fifteen or twenty minutes later they were ordered to go up to the sixth floor, where D-n. told them that Mr Shchiborshch had been threatening to kill them, saying that the kitchen door was electrified. Kh. heard Mr   Shchiborshch say that he had already knocked down one man and the same would happen to the others. Kh. then understood that Mr   Shchiborshch had realised that there were police officers in the flat. The four of them were in the lobby discussing further actions when they heard a crash from the kitchen. The stained glass in the kitchen door had been broken and they were showered with shards of glass. Since the police officers were wearing bullet-proof vests, no one was hurt. Through the kitchen door Kh. saw a bare-chested fair-haired man, approximately thirty-five years old of medium build. His face and chest were covered with blood and he was holding 20-30 cm long kitchen knives. The blades were covered with a brown substance that looked like blood. Kh. noticed that the man had “mad eyes” and was behaving strangely. The police officers of the special unit introduced themselves and asked Mr   Shchiborshch to put down the knives and step out of the kitchen. Mr   Shchiborshch, who was very excited, refused and lunged at B. The officers were separated from the kitchen by a door, which had been blocked by furniture on the other side. B. tried to force open the door with his shield. Mr Shchiborshch continued lunging at B. and at a certain point Kh. heard that a wound had been inflicted. He then covered B. with his shield and started to move forward. Kh. was then stabbed in the right shoulder and started to bleed. Mr   Shchiborshch then moved to the balcony and Kh. went to the stairwell to receive first aid. He stayed there until the end of the operation. Five or ten minutes later he saw from the lobby Mr   Shchiborshch, who was covered with blood and wearing handcuffs, being led from the kitchen to the living room. A doctor entered the room and apparently gave Mr   Shchiborshch a sedative injection and dressed his wounds. Kh. then went to the kitchen, took his shield and left the flat. 20.     On 15 August 2006 police officer B. of the special unit was questioned. He made a statement similar to that of Kh. concerning the events that had taken place before the latter had been wounded. As regards the subsequent events, B. stated that he and police officers D-n. and S. had forced open the kitchen door and begun to clear up the barricade of furniture in the kitchen. Mr Shchiborshch had run to the balcony. As they approached the balcony, he broke the glass in the balcony door and windows, and started throwing various objects at them, such as an iron and cans. He was also hitting his head and back against the balcony windows and screaming that they were going to kill him. He broke all the glass in the balcony door and lunged at them with knives. B. covered D-n. and S. with his shield. Through the balcony window D-n. hit Mr Shchiborshch several times with a rubber truncheon on the left hand in which he was holding a knife. The knife fell to the floor. Mr   Shchiborshch then lunged at B. and S. with the knife he was holding in his right hand but S. caught his hand. Mr   Shchiborshch pulled S. towards him and they both fell on the balcony floor, which was covered in glass. The other police officers then approached Mr Shchiborshch, handcuffed him and took him to the kitchen. He stopped resisting. Since there were cuts on his body, the police officers called for a doctor, who began dressing the wounds and gave him an injection. Other police officers then entered the kitchen, whereas the officers of the special police unit, having completed their task, left. In answer to the investigator’s question about the whereabouts of the first applicant during the events, B. stated that he had been in the lobby all the time; he had neither entered the flat nor witnessed the events. 21.     On 17 August 2006 police officer D-n. of the special unit was questioned. He made a statement consistent with those of Kh. and B., and added certain details. In particular, when he arrived at the sixth floor the stairwell floor was covered with blood, which appeared to belong to police officer G. He heard Mr Shchiborshch swearing at his father, saying that the latter wanted to get his flat. Mr Shchiborshch also asked the police officers to leave and seemed to be sure that he had killed a policeman. D-n. tried to calm him down, and asked him to open the door and step out. However, the negotiations, which lasted ten or fifteen minutes, proved futile and D-n. called for his unit. The first applicant, who remained in the lobby all the time, explained that his son was mentally ill and behaved inadequately; he had threatened to kill everybody. The first applicant emphasised that Mr   Shchiborshch was a danger to himself and others. He said that his son had threatened him with a knife before and had beaten him up the previous day. The first applicant seemed very frightened and confused. D-n. added that throughout the operation the police officers had kept telling Mr   Shchiborshch to drop the weapons, but he had not reacted. He further submitted that in such a situation, according to the law, the police were allowed to use rubber truncheons, handcuffs and tear gas. They did not use the latter because the ventilation system was shared with other flats, and it could have been dangerous for other residents. D-n. also explained that, apart from the police officers, no one else had witnessed the events. 22.     On 21 August 2006 police officer L. was questioned. According to his statement, at approximately 12.40 p.m. on 7 July 2006 he had been instructed to go with police officers G. and D. to a certain address to take a mentally-ill person to hospital. When they arrived, they put on bullet-proof vests and went upstairs with the first applicant, who gave them oral permission to enter the flat. When the first applicant rang at the lobby door, G. was standing beside him; L. was standing behind G., and D. was standing to one side. L. could not immediately see who had opened the door, but then G. shouted that the person who had opened the door had a knife. Mr   Shchiborshch ran back to the door of his flat wielding the knife in his hand. Having opened the door with his free hand, he stood in the doorway shouting that he would kill everyone. L. then saw that G. was bleeding. The police officers then tried to calm Mr Shchiborshch down, but had no success. He tried to attack G. and then tried to close the door to the flat, but L. prevented him. Then Mr Shchiborshch ran to a room and barricaded himself inside. While L. blocked the door, an ambulance was called for G. The officers also reported on the situation to the OVD. The ambulance took G. to hospital. After the arrival of the special police unit, L. moved to the stairwell. He could not identify the special unit officers because their faces were covered with masks. He did not see what happened in the flat either. He was then ordered to return to the OVD. 23.     On the same date, the first applicant was questioned. He stated that his son, Mr Shchiborshch, had been suffering from a psychiatric disorder. He did not know precisely what his son’s condition was because the doctors had never told the parents the exact diagnosis. Mr   Shchiborshch had been undergoing treatment since 2001. His condition always worsened in the spring: recently he had been in a state of delirium. He thought that his parents were not his real parents and that they were trying to kill him. When they visited him, he would swear at them, threaten to kill them, lock himself in his flat and not let them in. On a number of occasions he had been forcibly placed in hospital. He had never agreed to be placed in the hospital voluntarily, and during the forced placement had always resisted the police officers who had apprehended him, so they had sometimes had to use rubber truncheons or tear gas. Since October 2005 Mr Shchiborshch had stopped taking his medication, having declared that he was healthy. Since then, his condition had gradually worsened. The threatening phone calls to his parents had become more frequent. The applicants had started to worry for his life, fearing that he might pose a danger to himself. On 31 May 2006 the first applicant had asked Mr Shchiborshch’s doctor for a referral recommending in-patient treatment and to issue instructions for involuntary placement in a hospital. He then submitted the referral to the Alekseyev Psychiatric Hospital no. 1 and the instructions to the Nagatinskiy Zaton OVD. At 11.20   a.m. on 7 July 2006 he left together with police officers G., L. and D. for Mr Shchiborshch’s place of residence. When they reached the sixth floor, the police officers hid and the first applicant rang at the door. Mr   Shchiborshch opened the door. He had a knife in his hand, which he began to wield, trying to force them out. The police officers started to explain that they wanted to take him to a hospital. Mr   Shchiborshch mistook them for burglars and shouted at them to go away. He did not recognise the first applicant. After approximately ten minutes of negotiations, the police officers tried to take the knife from Mr   Shchiborshch, but he stabbed G. in the chest with it and also cut his finger. There was blood all over the stairwell floor. Then one of the police officers went outside to fetch shields and rubber truncheons. Mr   Shchiborshch continued behaving inadequately. The police officers tried to apprehend him by knocking the knife from his hand with the rubber truncheons. He continued to brandish the knife and then ran to the kitchen and barricaded himself inside, blocking the kitchen door with a table. Through the door the first applicant heard him calling an ambulance and the police. At the same time G. called R., the Head of the Nagatinskiy Zaton OVD, who arrived at the scene twenty minutes later, and the special police unit, who arrived an hour and a half later. One of the special unit police officers talked to Mr Shchiborshch through the kitchen door, trying to persuade him to open it. As Mr Shchiborshch did not react to the requests, the special unit prepared to “storm” the kitchen. At that time the first applicant was standing near the lift. He could not see what was happening but heard the sound of breaking glass. He looked inside the flat and saw his son on the balcony screaming: “Help, they are killing me!” At that time the police officers were taking a broken table and a door to the stairwell. They then returned to the flat and went towards the balcony. After a while the first applicant again looked into the flat and saw his son lying face down on the kitchen floor. He had been handcuffed and there was blood around him. The police officers asked whether there was anything they could put him in. They put him in a blanket and carried him to the ambulance, which took him to City Hospital no. 7. Later the first applicant learnt that his son had died. 24.     On 22 August 2006 officer F. of the special police unit was questioned. He stated that for technical reasons he had been unable to get into the same police car as officers B., D-n., Kh. and S. and had arrived later in his own car. He observed most of the operation while standing behind the police officers who had arrived earlier. His account of the events was consistent with those of the other police officers. He also added that the first applicant had told him that recently Mr Shchiborshch had stopped taking his usual medication and had instead switched to light alcoholic drinks, which had aggravated his condition. The latter had also refused to be placed in a hospital voluntarily and had threatened the first applicant with a knife. 25.     On 25 August 2006 officer S. of the special police unit was questioned. His account of the events was consistent with that of the other police officers. He emphasised that they had not used firearms while apprehending Mr Shchiborshch. 26.     On the same date police officer G. was questioned. According to his submissions, on 7 July 2006 he had been ordered, together with police officers D. and L., to carry out the involuntary placement in hospital of Mr   Shchiborshch, who was suffering from a psychiatric disorder. They went to his home address with his father, the first applicant, who explained that at the sight of the police his son would lock himself in his flat, so the police officers would have to get between him and the door. However, the first applicant did not warn the police that his son might be armed, even though it later transpired that his son had already resisted his previous placements in hospital with the use of arms. When they arrived, the first applicant rang the lobby door bell. They heard Mr Shchiborshch leave the flat, walk to the door and ask who was there. The first applicant replied: “Kirill, it’s me”. Mr   Shchiborshch said: “I will open now”. G. heard him walk back to the flat and return. When Mr Shchiborshch started opening the door, G. pushed him into the lobby. D. and L. followed him into the lobby. G. felt a blow to his chest and, having pushed Mr Shchiborshch away, saw a knife in his hand. He shouted to the other officers that Mr Shchiborshch had a knife, and then received another stab in his chest. Mr Shchiborshch ran to his flat and began to shut the door behind him. However, L. caught the door and opened it, preventing Mr Shchiborshch from locking himself inside the flat. All that time, the first applicant had remained near the lift, too afraid to come closer. Mr Shchiborshch started shouting: “Don’t come closer, or I’ll kill you”, brandishing the knife in his hand. L. took a baby pram that was near the door and, on G.’s order, passed it to him. G. used the baby pram to defend himself from Mr   Shchiborshch. At a certain point he managed to take out his gun and warned Mr Shchiborshch that he would use it if he continued threatening with the knife. However, Mr Shchiborshch did not react to the warning. L. had a submachine gun which had not been loaded. According to G., the three police officers tried together to persuade Mr   Shchiborshch to calm down and drop the knife. The latter shouted to his father to bring a woman, as he would only talk to a woman. The first applicant refused. The talks lasted for ten or fifteen minutes, during which Mr Shchiborshch swore constantly. At a certain point he lowered his trousers and underpants, rubbed his anus with his left hand and made a gesture as if throwing something in the direction of the police officers, saying: “This is shit!” The police officers moved back slightly. D. went outside and came back with two rubber truncheons. He gave one of them to G., who put his gun back in the holster and took the rubber truncheon. Mr   Shchiborshch put his underpants and trousers back on and, with his right hand, in which he was holding the knife, reached for the door knob. G. and D. inflicted several blows on his right hand, following which Mr   Shchiborshch lunged at them brandishing the knife and saying: “I’ll kill you”. The police officers moved back towards the lobby door. At that moment Mr Shchiborshch cut the fourth finger of G.’s left hand with the knife, then ran to his kitchen and barricaded himself inside. Then G. ordered L. to load his submachine gun and shoot to kill if Mr   Shchiborshch tried to leave. The first applicant then entered the flat and looked into the living room. G. asked him for permission to use the telephone and called the OVD. He asked them to call an ambulance and the special police unit. In approximately 15 or 20 minutes the ambulance arrived and took G. to hospital. He did not know what had happened afterwards. Answering the investigator’s question whether the police officers had been specifically trained for detaining psychiatrically disturbed persons and whether there existed special techniques for apprehending such persons, G. stated that no such training had been provided and that there existed only general rules on apprehending armed offenders in various situations. If the police had information that the person was armed (irrespective of his psychiatric condition), they could use arms in accordance with section 15(2) of the Law on the Police. 27.     On an unspecified date – apparently in August 2006 – a person whose name is not clear from the documents but who appears to be R., the Head of the Nagatinskiy Zaton OVD, was questioned. He stated that a year earlier he had taken part in the operation to forcibly place Mr Shchiborshch in hospital. The latter resisted the police officers with weapons and threw acetic acid in the face of one of them. On 6 July 2006 the first applicant called him and asked if the police would assist him in placing his son in hospital on 7 July 2006. On that day police officers G., D. and L. were sent on the operation. Later he received information that G. had been wounded and he himself went to Mr Shchiborshch’s flat. Finding the latter in a dangerous condition, he reported to the Nagatinskiy Zaton OVD and called for emergency psychiatric assistance. He was later informed that a special police unit had been called to the scene. Approximately thirty minutes later two high-ranking police officers, K. and Dub., arrived. After a while, the special police unit also arrived. While they were preparing to storm the kitchen, R. went outside to ensure that no one entered the building, since they could have been hurt by Mr Shchiborshch. The latter was screaming from the balcony to attract attention. He was shouting that he would jump from the window and throwing objects towards the kitchen. Then he broke the balcony windows and started throwing the broken glass down from the balcony. R. thought that he had seen a shard pierce Mr Shchiborshch’s neck. Then R. saw Mr     Shchiborshch resisting the police with sharp objects in his hands and falling on the balcony floor with one of the officers. Realising that Mr   Shchiborshch had been apprehended, R. went up to the sixth floor. On entering the flat, he saw Mr Shchiborshch lying handcuffed on the kitchen floor. The latter was taken to a room where he was given first aid by an ambulance doctor. As Mr Shchiborshch was bleeding profusely from his neck, it was decided to take him urgently to a hospital. He was carried on a blanket to the ambulance and transported to City Hospital no. 7. R. then called for an investigative unit to inspect the scene. It was established that Mr   Shchiborshch had wounded four police officers. R. returned to the OVD and was later informed that Mr Shchiborshch had died. In his view, it had been the result of a tragic concurrence of circumstances, since in his presence nobody had either beaten or hit Mr Shchiborshch. Judging from his conduct, the first applicant had supported the actions of the police throughout the operation. G., L. and D. had acted strictly in accordance with the law. 28.     On 4 September 2006 the investigating authorities seized Mr   Shchiborshch’s medical file kept at psycho-neurological dispensary no.   10. 29.     On 7 September 2006 the investigating authorities seized Mr   Shchiborshch’s medical file kept at psychiatric hospital no. 13. 30.     On 5 September 2006 K., the acting head of psycho-neurological dispensary no. 10, was questioned. She submitted that Mr Shchiborshch had been under medical supervision since 2002. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia with delirium syndromes. He had been forcibly placed for in-patient treatment a number of times as he had never agreed to it voluntarily. His condition had gradually worsened in the past four years: anxiety had been exacerbated, delirious ideas had accumulated and he had been losing contact with the people around him. He considered everybody his enemy and persecutor. His condition had worsened considerably since he had stopped taking regular medication. The investigator asked K. whether Mr Shchiborshch, who would have been suffering from fatigue in the absence of the necessary medication, could have actively resisted his placement in hospital. K. answered that in a delirious period he could be aggressive and reveal great physical force, because he perceived everyone as a persecutor. K. also submitted that Mr Shchiborshch had resisted the previous placements in hospital but she did not know whether he had used weapons. The investigator further asked about Mr   Shchiborshch’s relationship with his parents. K. replied that when his condition had worsened and he had beaten them, they had applied for his in-patient treatment. 31.     On 7 September 2006 Ch., a doctor of psychiatric hospital no.   13, was questioned. She submitted that she had been Mr Shchiborshch’s doctor since 2002. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was subjected to involuntary placement in a psychiatric hospital for the first time in 2004 because his condition had suddenly worsened and he had been delivered to the hospital with self-inflicted burns on his body. Since that time he had begun to display aggression and his delirium had worsened. In such a condition he was dangerous to himself and others. He had had a negative attitude towards the treatment but had agreed to take small doses of medication. Following an improvement in his condition, he had been discharged from the hospital. Answering the investigator’s question whether Mr Shchiborshch could inflict self-harm, Ch. submitted that he could do so while in an agitated state; this was corroborated by the self-inflicted burns. 32.     On 8 September 2006 the second applicant was questioned. She gave details of the development of Mr Shchiborshch’s illness. His condition had worsened in October 2006 after he had stopped taking his medication. In particular, she had seen him talking to an imaginary person. She and the first applicant were very concerned about his condition and decided to arrange for him to be placed in a psychiatric hospital. 33.     The second applicant was questioned again on 13 September 2006. First, she gave some additional details concerning medical documents the applicants had obtained to ensure Mr Shchiborshch’s in-patient treatment. She then stated that on 7 July 2006 the first applicant had telephoned Mr   Shchiborshch and said that he would visit him soon. Mr Shchiborshch talked to him in a normal manner and called him “father”, which made the fact that he then met the first applicant and the police with a knife all the more inexplicable. At approximately 12.30 p.m. she called the first applicant, who said that the police had been unable to restrain Mr   Shchiborshch, he had cut a police officer’s finger and the police had called for an investigator. She called the first applicant regularly so as to follow the events. The first applicant was agitated and told her that they were waiting for the special police unit to arrive. When she called him again at approximately 3 p.m., the first applicant said that the special police unit had apprehended Mr Shchiborshch, and an ambulance doctor had said: “Hurry, we may not make it, he might not survive.” She asked her husband to go to the hospital with Mr Shchiborshch, but he said that the police would not let him go because they wanted to question him. During another telephone conversation at approximately 7 p.m. the first applicant told her that Mr Shchiborshch had died and turned off his mobile phone. The next day the second applicant telephoned Mr Shchiborshch’s neighbour, Ts., who said that the previous day she had shouted to the police: “Don’t kill him!” She had also tried to open the door to her flat, but the police officers would not let her. Ts. also said that she had seen the police beating Mr   Shchiborshch. Later, two unidentified men approached Ts. in the yard of the block of flats and told her that if she had witnessed the events of 7 July 2006, she should forget them. 34.     On 18 September 2006 N., the head of the investigative unit of the Nagatinskiy Zaton OVD, was questioned. She submitted that at approximately 3.20 p.m. on 7 July 2006 she had been informed that a police officer of the OVD had sustained a knife wound and she had gone to the address indicated. When she arrived approximately twenty minutes later the first applicant and R., the Head of the OVD, were there. R. explained to her what had happened. She then inspected the flat. The kitchen was crammed with a variety of objects. There were cans, numerous shards of glass and some other objects on the floor. A refrigerator was lying across the kitchen. There were spots of blood on the refrigerator and the floor. On the right-hand wall there was a kitchen unit; on the table there was a kettle, a sugar bowl and two knives, one of which had a long blade and a wooden handle, the other a shorter blade and a plastic handle. Both knives were covered with blood. There was no glass in the kitchen window facing the balcony, but some shards of glass were stuck in the frame. The balcony windows had also been broken. The balcony floor was covered with shards of various sizes. The glass that remained in the frames bore traces of blood. There was also blood on the balcony floor, the door frame and the window frame facing the balcony. 35.     On 20 September 2006 the investigating authorities seized certain documents pertaining to Mr   Shchiborshch’s medical file kept at the Alekseyev Psychiatric Hospital no. 1. 36.     On 21 September 2006 the investigating authorities seized from Botkin City Hospital no.   2 documents related to the medical assistance provided to police officer G. for the wound caused by Mr Shchiborshch on 7 July 2006. 37.     On 22 September 2006 G-v., the ambulance doctor, was questioned. He stated that on 7 July 2006 he had been informed that a man had called an ambulance claiming that he had sustained a knife wound to his neck. G-v. went in an ambulance with K-n. to the address indicated. There he found several police officers, who explained that the person in the flat was mentally ill. They had been trying to restrain him in order to place him in hospital, but he had resisted them with the use of arms. G-v. provided medical assistance to a police officer who had sustained a knife wound to his shoulder. From the stairwell he witnessed the special unit police officers trying for quite a long time to persuade the person to leave the flat. They then decided to storm the flat but G-v. did not see them do that. At a certain point one of the police officers went out to the stairwell. His hand had been cut. G-v. dressed the wound. A few minutes later he and K-n. were asked into the flat in order to provide medical attention. They saw a handcuffed man lying face down on the floor. He was conscious and in a state of psychomotor agitation. His neck was bleeding. They gave him a sedative injection and conducted a detailed examination. Then, with the help of the police officers, they carried the man to the ambulance and transported him to City Hospital no. 7. 38.     On 26 September 2006 the investigating authorities ordered the seizure of documents related to the medical assistance provided to police officers B., D-n. and Kh. for the wounds caused by Mr Shchiborshch on 7   July 2006. The documents were seized on 12 October 2006 from polyclinic no. 17. 39.     On 29 September 2006 Ts., Mr Shchiborshch’s neighbour, was questioned. She submitted that on 7 July 2006 she had looked through the peephole in her front door on several occasions and had seen some of the events. Initially she heard Mr Shchiborshch swearing and two police officers speaking, and then saw the former standing in the doorway. In a while she heard a tinkling sound in the lobby and saw the police officers defending themselves from Mr Shchiborshch with her baby pram. She told them through the door to put it back, which they did. Then she heard Mr   Shchiborshch crying: “Neighbour, save me”. She tried to open the door but one of the police officers told her to close it. Then she heard somebody shout: “Call an ambulance!” She went to the balcony and saw an ambulance parked near a police officer whose chest had been bandaged. Then she saw through the peephole that Mr   Shchiborshch had locked himself in his kitchen. The police had not entered the flat, and somebody said: “Call the special police unit”. After a while she heard some noise and saw a special unit police officer near the kitchen trying to persuade Mr Shchiborshch to open the door. He talked to him for quite a long time. Then he left the flat and ordered another officer to switch off the electricity. She understood that they were going to storm the flat. Soon everything was over. When she went out of her flat she saw that the lobby and the stairwell were covered with blood. Mr Shchiborshch’s kitchen door without the stained glass and a broken kitchen table, also covered in blood, were in the lobby. In Mr   Shchiborshch’s flat she saw a pool of blood on the floor and the two knives which he had been holding earlier covered with blood. After the events the second applicant repeatedly telephoned Ts. trying to talk her into testifying against the police officers, alleging that they had killed her son. Those telephone calls were very disturbing. They stopped after Ts.’s husband had talked to the second applicant. 40.     On the same date the investigating authorities inspected Mr   Shchiborshch’s flat, the adjacent lobby and the stairwell. They established, in particular, that there was no door at the entrance to the kitchen. There was a crack in the glass of the balcony door and the door had reddish-brown spots on it. Two glass planes were missing from the window next to the balcony door and there were reddish-brown traces on the frames. The doors of a cupboard on the balcony also had reddish-brown spots on them; the balcony floor and the window frame to the right of the entrance to the balcony were covered with dried reddish-brown stains. The left side of the white linen curtain at the kitchen window was torn. There was a 3 cm reddish-brown stain on the curtain and surrounding it traces of a reddish-brown substance. The balcony was glazed and had three windows. The glass panes were missing in the two windows closest to the balcony entrance. 41.     On 3 October 2006 the first applicant was granted victim status in case no. 363484. On the same date he was questioned and confirmed his earlier statements. 42.     On 30 October 2006 the investigating authorities ordered the seizure of documents related to the medical assistance provided to police officer B. for the wound caused by Mr Shchiborshch on 7 July 2006. On 8 November 2006 the documents were seized from Kupavna Hospital. 43.     On 3 November 2006 an examination was conducted of the knife with a wooden handle seized from Mr Shchiborshch’s flat on 7 July 2006. According to report no. 2813, the blood on the knife could have belonged to either Mr Shchiborshch or police officer Kh. 44.     On the same date an examination was conducted of the knife with a plastic handle seized from Mr Shchiborshch’s flat on 7 July 2006. According to report no. 2814, the blood on the knife could have belonged to either Mr Shchiborshch or police officer Kh. 45.     On 9 November 2006 forensic examinations were carried out with regard to the injuries caused to the special unit police officers on 7 July 2006. The results showed that D-n. had sustained bruises and abrasions on his upper body that could have been caused by being hit and scraped against hard blunt objects, possibly on 7 July 2006, which could not be considered as health damage. Kh. had sustained slash wounds to the right shoulder and the right hand that could have been caused by the sliding impact of a hard cutting object, possibly on 7   July   2006; these could be classified as light health damage. B. had sustained a puncture wound on the right hand. The text concerning the gravity of the injury is illegible. 46.     On 10 November 2006 D-k., a former colleag