CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;COMMITTEE;ENG — 24 juin 2021

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UKRAINE (Application no. 71848/13)         JUDGMENT   STRASBOURG 24 June 2021   This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Starenkyy and Others v. Ukraine, The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:   Mārtiņš Mits, President,   Jovan Ilievski,   Ivana Jelić, judges, and Martina Keller, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to: the application (no.   71848/13) against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by sixteen Ukrainian nationals listed in the Annex (“the applicants”), on   24 October 2013; the decision to give notice to the Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) of the complaints under Article 3 of the Convention and to declare inadmissible the remainder of the application; the parties’ observations; Having deliberated in private on 3 June 2021, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: INTRODUCTION 1.     The applicants, who were serving their sentences of life imprisonment, complained under Article 3 of the Convention that they had been subjected to unjustified violence during a fire evacuation from one prison to another in March 2012 and that there had been no effective domestic investigation into that matter. THE FACTS 2.     The applicants’ names and birth years are set out in the Appendix. 3 .     Mr Vasyl Yovdiy died on 24 April 2019. On 1 May 2020 his brother, Mr Yuriy Yovdiy, expressed the wish to pursue the application. 4.     Mr Kulyk lives in Vyshneve [1] . The remaining fourteen applicants continue serving their sentences of life imprisonment: Mr Kuznyetsov, Mr   Lavrenyuk and Mr Petryshak in Ivano-Frankivsk Prison no.   12, Mr   Tokach in Chortkiv Prison no. 26 and the other ten applicants in Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison no. 31. 5.     The applicants were represented by Ms Olena Sapozhnikova , a lawyer practising in Kyiv. 6.     The Government were represented by their Agent, Mr   Ivan Lishchyna. 7.     The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. Fire evacuation in Sokal Prison 8.     At the material time the applicants were serving their sentences in Sokal Prison no. 47 (“Sokal Prison”) in the Lviv region. 9.     On 27 March 2012, at about 2 p.m., a fire broke out under the roof of the maximum-security sector accommodating sixty-eight life prisoners, including the applicants. All the inmates were evacuated to safe areas within the prison territory (see paragraphs 12-14 below). 10.     The Lviv Regional Department of the State Prison Service organised and coordinated further evacuation of the life prisoners to the Lviv Pre-Trial Detention Centre (“the Lviv SIZO”). 11.     The application contained a general summary of events regarding all the applicants. In reply to the Government’s observations, each applicant provided a detailed account of his personal experience [2] . Initial evacuation within the prison area 12 .     The facts pertaining to this initial stage of the evacuation were not disputed by the parties. 13 .     Shortly after the first signs of the fire appeared, the prison staff opened all the cells of the maximum-security sector and directed the inmates to go outside, leaving behind all their belongings. Prisoners obeyed orders with no handcuffing or other restraint measures being applied. 14 .     Some inmates [3] were taken to the outdoor exercising yards while the others [4] were taken to the disciplinary detention centre situated in a separate building about 200 metres away [5] . They waited for further evacuation to about 8 p.m. or later [6] , being exposed to low temperatures without having any warm clothes, not being provided with food and water, not having access to toilet and having no information about the progress in the fire extinguishing. Subsequent evacuation to the Lviv SIZO The Government’s account 15.     According to the Government, the life prisoners’ evacuation to the Lviv SIZO was carried out in an orderly manner, with handcuffing being the only coercive measure applied. 16.     The Government further submitted that the applicants’ medical examination upon their arrival at the Lviv SIZO had reported the absence of any injuries. No copies of medical examination reports were, however, provided to the Court (see also paragraph 56 below). The applicants’ account 17 .     On 27 March 2012, starting from 8 p.m., the applicants were taken one by one to some administration premises, where a high-ranking military officer was present, in addition to the prison staff. He   questioned them on their personal files, allegedly in an aggressive manner and occasionally accompanying his questions by physical violence. Once that brief questioning was over, two officers wearing black uniforms handcuffed the applicants, in an extremely tight manner, and dragged them out. Having their arms raised behind the back and their heads lowered almost to the ground level, the applicants did not see where they were going and could not help hitting the ground and walls with their heads. After having been led outside, they had to walk to the prison vans waiting fifty to seventy metres away, by passing between two lines of officers (referred to as “a live corridor”), each of whom had a rubber truncheon, a stick or an electric cable piece in his hands. Without any reason or warning, the officers punched, kicked and hit the applicants all the way. 18 .     All the applicants sustained numerous hematomas and bruises. Some of them also sustained additional injuries: -        one or several head injuries (Mr   Deynega, Mr   Kondrashyn, Mr   Baylo, Mr Drugov, Mr   Petryshak and Mr   Ovsiyenko); -        a tooth knocked out (Mr   Ovsiyenko); -        a suspected nose fracture (Mr Kuznyetsov); -        a dislocated shoulder (Mr Starenkyy and Mr Kuznyetsov); -        a back injury (Mr Agabalayev); and -        a knee injury (Mr Farziyev). 19.     Mr Kuznyetsov additionally submitted that the two officers, who were holding him, were themselves surprised by the violence of those standing in the “live corridor” and sustained a few accidental blows. 20.     The applicants also alleged various long-term negative consequences of their alleged beating for their health. 21.     The applicants remained handcuffed for several hours after their arrival at the Lviv SIZO. Overall, they had been handcuffed in an extremely tight manner from about 7 p.m. on 27   March 2012 until about 5 a.m. on 28   March 2012. As a result, the hands of many had turned violet and had become numb. 22.     After several hours of waiting in the Lviv SIZO, the applicants were called one by one and were made to strip naked in the presence of many officials including women. The medical staff refused to document any injuries and provided the applicants with only basic or no medical assistance. 23 .     Given that the fire in Sokal Prison was mentioned in the national television news reports, the applicants’ relatives immediately made enquiries and requested meetings with the applicants. However, for about three weeks the applicants were prohibited from having any contact with their families and lawyers. 24.     In late April 2012 most applicants were transferred to Novgorod ‑ Siverskyy Prison no. 31. Domestic investigation General information on complaints raised at the domestic level 25 .     Mr Agabalayev, Mr Deynega, Mr Drugov, Mr Kondrashyn, Mr   Lavrenyuk and Mr Yovdiy did not raise any complaints of ill-treatment at the domestic level. 26 .     Mr Grechukh, Mr Tokach and Mr Khavrutskyy allegedly sent complaints to various domestic authorities from the Lviv SIZO but gave up in the absence of any response. 27.     The remaining applicants submitted that they had lodged complaints before the prosecution authorities: Mr Ovsiyenko – on 28 March 2012, Mr   Starenkyy – on 29   March 2012, Mr Kuznyetsov – on 30 March 2012, Mr   Kulyk – shortly after 19   April 2012, Mr Baylo – on 23 April 2012, Mr   Petryshak – on 30 May 2012, and Mr Farziyev – on 11 June 2012. There is no documentary evidence in the case file in support of those statements . 28 .     According to the Government, the earliest complaint at the domestic level in respect of the applicants’ alleged ill-treatment was from Mr   Baylo to the Prosecutor General’s Office on 15 June 2012. 29 .     According to the available documents, the earliest complaint was lodged by Mr Kulyk on an unspecified date prior to 15   June 2012. The case file before the Court contains a copy of a letter from the Prosecutor General’s Office of 15 June 2012, by which it forwarded to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office (“the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office”) a complaint of Mr   Kulyk’s lawyer on her client’s alleged treatment during the fire evacuation in Sokal Prison. No further information is available regarding any investigation into that complaint. 30 .     The documented earliest complaints thereafter were lodged on: 15   June 2012 by Mr Baylo, 17 June 2012 by Mr Starenkyy, 19 June 2012 by Mr   Kuznyetsov, 30 July 2012 by Mr Farziyev, 1   September 2012 by Mr   Ovsiyenko and 25   March 2013 by Mr Petryshak. 31 .     The applicants provided the same account of the events in those complaints as in their application before the Court (see paragraphs   17-23 above). Furthermore, the applicants, notably Mr Starenkyy, Mr Baylo and Mr   Kuznyetsov, consistently alleged (starting from June 2012 at the latest ‑ see paragraph 30 above) that they and many other prisoners had sustained various injuries during the fire evacuation on 27 June 2012 and that those injuries had never been recorded. 32.     The applicants submitted in their complaints that they were not in a position to identify the alleged perpetrators and counted on the domestic prosecution authorities to do that. Investigation in respect of the Sokal Prison staff By the Sokal Prosecutor’s Office 33 .     During the period from August 2012 to December 2013, the Sokal Town Prosecutor’s Office (“the Sokal Prosecutor’s Office”) refused to institute criminal proceedings or discontinued the investigation [7] in respect of the staff of Sokal Prison eleven times (four times following complaints by Mr   Starenkyy [8] , three times following complaints by Mr   Baylo [9] , twice following complaints by Mr Kuznyetsov [10] , once following a complaint by Mr   Farziyev [11] and once following a complaint by Mr   Ovsiyenko [12] ). Nine of those rulings were eventually quashed as premature and not based on a comprehensive investigation. 34 .     The Sokal Prosecutor’s Office consistently relied on testimonies of numerous staff members of Sokal Prison, who denied having applied or having witnessed application of force against prisoners. It was observed that responsibilities during the evacuation had been divided as follows: the prison staff had been in charge of guarding the inmates within the prison area, officers of Military Unit no. 3002 had taken them from the prison premises to the vehicles and had ensured their convoy to the Lviv SIZO, whereas members of the Lviv regional consolidated rapid response unit (зведений загін групи швидкого реагування Львівської області) had formed “a live corridor” for prisoners’ passage from the prison premises to the vehicles. The prosecutor noted that the administration of Sokal Prison had stated that it had no information as to the composition of the above ‑ mentioned rapid response unit. 35 .     Furthermore, the Sokal Prosecutor’s Office relied on testimonies of the staff members of the Lviv SIZO, who submitted that no injuries or complaints had been reported during the applicants’ medical examination upon their arrival at the SIZO. The absence of any records of incidents, injuries, complaints or requests for medical assistance in the prison and the SIZO logbooks was also noted. 36.     In September 2012, and possibly later, the investigator questioned Mr Baylo, Mr Starenkyy, Mr   Kuznyetsov, Mr Drugov and Mr Deynega [13] , who maintained that they had been ill-treated on 27 March 2012. Their allegations were, however, dismissed as not based on solid evidence and refuted by other witness statements. 37 .     Among the witness evidence, in addition to testimonies made by the prison and the SIZO staff, as well as the above-mentioned applicants’ statements, the Sokal Prosecutor’s Office noted, in its ruling of 22   March 2013 discontinuing the investigation in respect of Mr Baylo’s complaint, that life prisoners Mr   Yar., Mr M. and Mr   Ch., who had also been evacuated on 27 March 2012, as well as Mr Starenkyy, Mr Kuznyetsov and Mr   Ovsiyenko, had been questioned and that they had confirmed the ill ‑ treatment allegation. It was observed, however, that those witnesses had stated that they would not be able to recognise the officials concerned. 38 .     Forensic medical expert examinations were carried out in respect of Mr Baylo (on 21-25 February 2013) and Mr Kuznyetsov and Mr   Petryshak (both on 21-22 May 2013), with a view to establishing whether they had any injuries and, if so, whether those injuries might have been sustained on 27 March 2012. According to the expert reports, the examinations were based on the applicants’ visual inspection and the study of their medical files. According to Mr Kuznyetsov, the expert did not examine him in person. The findings of the forensic medical expert reports were as follows: -              Mr Baylo had a scar on the left temple, which might have been inflicted by a blunt object on 27 March 2012; at the same time, his medical file did not contain any records of injuries and therefore provided no grounds for concluding that Mr Baylo could have sustained the injury in question during his evacuation on 27   March 2012 as alleged by him; -              Mr Kuznyetsov and Mr Petryshak did not have any injuries and their medical files did not provide grounds to consider that they might have sustained any injuries on 27 March 2012. It was noted in the report in respect of Mr Kuznyetsov that there was a record of 13   April 2012 in his medical file stating that he was fit for a transfer to a different detention facility. 39 .     On 21 February 2013 the investigator of the Sokal Prosecutor’s Office attached as material evidence Mr Baylo’s clothes allegedly worn by him during the evacuation and having numerous “brown stains appearing to be blood”. There is no information on any investigative measures in respect of that material evidence. 40 .     The Sokal Prosecutor’s Office refused to attribute the procedural status of an injured party to Mr Baylo on 13 February 2013 and to Mr   Kuznyetsov on 7 March 2013 [14] . Mr Baylo unsuccessfully tried to contest that refusal. 41 .     On 2 March 2013 the prosecutor rejected Mr   Baylo’s requests for a confrontation with the Lviv SIZO medical staff, as well as for access to the forensic medical expert report and the witnesses’ questioning reports, on the grounds that the latter had no procedural status of an injured party. By the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office 42 .     On 7 February 2014 the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office ordered a forensic medical expert examination of Mr Starenkyy and his medical file with a view to establishing whether he might have sustained any injuries on 27   March 2012. For unknown reasons, that examination was not carried out. 43 .     On 28 February 2014 the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office discontinued the investigation into Mr Starenkyy’s complaint in so far as it concerned the Sokal Prison staff. The investigator considered that the allegations of Mr   Starenkyy had been refuted by testimonies of numerous staff members of Sokal Prison and the Lviv SIZO. Furthermore, it appeared from Mr   Starenkyy’s medical file that he had not applied for medical assistance on 27 and 28 March 2012. The investigator referred in that connection to the information provided by the Lviv SIZO, according to which Mr   Starenkyy had been examined upon his arrival at the SIZO, with no injuries or complaints having been reported. Lastly, the investigator noted that a number of other prisoners, notably Mr K., Mr Yar., Mr M., Mr Le. and Mr   Ch., who had been evacuated on 27 March 2012, had been questioned and had denied having sustained or having witnessed any ill-treatment. Investigation in respect of officials of the Lviv Regional Department of the State Prison Service By the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office 44.     On 27 December 2012 the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office made an entry in the Unified register of pre-trial investigations marking the beginning of an investigation into Mr Baylo’s complaint of ill-treatment during his evacuation in March 2012 in so far as it concerned “officials of the State Prison Service in the Lviv region”. 45 .     On 25 December 2013 that investigation was discontinued. The investigator noted that Mr Baylo’s allegations had not been corroborated by evidence. It was observed that prisoners Mr K., Mr Yar., Mr M., Mr   Le. and Mr Ch., who had also been evacuated, had stated that they had neither sustained nor witnessed any ill-treatment. Although Mr Ovsiyenko, Mr   Starenkyy and Mr   Kuznyetsov had stated, when questioned as witnesses, that they had seen that Mr Baylo had a head injury, they had not witnessed how he had sustained it. The prison and the SIZO staff had been questioned many times and had denied the application of force to prisoners. The forensic medical expert, who had examined Mr Baylo, had specified in the course of her additional questioning that the scar was the only injury discovered during Mr Baylo’s examination in February 2013 and that it could have indeed been sustained in March 2012. However, having regard to a considerable lapse of time between the alleged incident and the expert examination, it was impossible to establish the date of that injury with precision. Furthermore, it could not be ruled out that Mr Baylo might have inflicted that injury on himself. The investigator also relied on an information note from the medical unit of the Lviv SIZO, according to which Mr Baylo had undergone a medical examination upon his arrival there on 27 March 2012 and had been found in satisfactory heath. As it followed from his medical file, he had neither raised any complaints nor asked for medical assistance during his detention in the Lviv SIZO. 46.     On 6 March and 3 April 2015, respectively, the Lviv Galytskyy District Court (“the Galytskyy Court”) and the Lviv Regional Court of Appeal upheld that ruling. 47.     On 30   January 2020 Mr Baylo applied to the newly created Department “for procedural management of criminal proceedings regarding torture and other serious breaches of human rights by law-enforcement authorities” (Департамент процесуального керівництва у кримінальних провадженнях про катування та інші серйозні порушення прав громадян з боку правоохоронних органів) in the Prosecutor General’s Office for reopening the investigation. 48 .     On 28 February 2020 the Prosecutor General’s Office informed Mr   Baylo that the ruling of 25 December 2013 had been quashed as based on an incomplete and inadequate investigation and that the investigation had been resumed. By the Lychakivskyy Prosecutor’s Office 49.     On 25 January 2013 the Lviv Lychakivskyy District Prosecutor’s Office started an investigation into Mr Kuznyetsov’s complaint in so far as it concerned his alleged ill-treatment by “officials of the Lviv Regional Department of the State Prison Service”. On 31 January 2013 it discontinued the investigation having found no indication of a criminal offence. On 15 March 2013 the Lychakivskyy District Court upheld that ruling. 50.     The case file before the Court does not contain copies of the aforementioned documents. Investigation in respect of officers of Military Unit no. 3002 51 .     On 9 August and 18 September 2012 the Lviv Garrison Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office in charge of the supervision of lawfulness in military institutions (Львівська прокуратура з нагляду за додержанням законів у воєнній сфері) , respectively, refused to institute criminal proceedings against the Military Unit no.   3002 officers, following complaints by Mr Starenkyy, Mr   Baylo, Mr Kuznyetsov, Mr   Kulyk (the ruling of 9 August 2012) and Mr Farziyev (the ruling of 18   September 2012), due to the absence of any evidence that a criminal offence had been committed [15] . It was established that forty-eight officers of Military Unit no.   3002 had been involved in the evacuation and that handcuffing had been the only restraint measure applied to all prisoners. The investigators relied on statements of senior officers concerned who denied any ill-treatment of prisoners. Furthermore, a medical specialist of the Lviv SIZO had been questioned and had submitted that the medical examination of all the sixty-eight life prisoners upon their arrival at the SIZO had established the absence of any injuries. According to the Lviv SIZO records, none of prisoners had raised any complaints of ill-treatment. The investigators noted that several life prisoners, notably Mr   G., Mr   Or., Mr   Yash., Mr Ol. and Mr Ovsiyenko, had been questioned and had stated that they had neither sustained nor witnessed any ill-treatment. Additional information submitted by the Government As regards further complaints at the domestic level 52.     On 27   August 2012 Mr Starenkyy and Mr Baylo complained to the Galytskyy Court about the unlawful inactivity of the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office and the Lviv Garrison Military Prosecutor’s Office. On 2   October 2012 the Galytskyy Court rejected those complaints as unfounded. Mr   Starenkyy and Mr Baylo did not lodge appeals. 53.     The case file before the Court does not contain copies of the above ‑ mentioned documents. As regards destruction of some investigation materials 54.     On 18 January and 7 May 2019 the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office destroyed, on the expiry of the statutory minimum storage period, the supervision files (наглядові провадження) [16] in respect of complaints from the following applicants: -             Mr Farziyev (from 23   August to 19   September 2012); -             Mr Grechukh (from 25 September to 1 October 2012); -             Mr Baylo (from 3 July to 3 September 2012); -             Mr Petryshak (from 12 April to 16 May 2013); -             Mr Drugov (no dates indicated); and -             Mr Kondrashyn (no dates indicated) [17] . Medical and witness evidence The applicants’ medical files 55 .     The Government did not submit to the Court copies of the applicants’ medical files, apart from several pages from Mr Baylo’s medical file containing no records for 2012 dating earlier than October 2012. 56 .     Nor did they submit copies of the reports on the applicants’ medical examination upon their arrival at the Lviv SIZO, which had been requested by the Court when the notice of the case was given to the Government. 57.     The applicants’ lawyer provided to the Court copies of extracts from the applicants’ medical files as sent to her by the prison authorities at her request in 2020. None of them contained any records in respect of the applicants’ medical examination upon their arrival at the Lviv SIZO in March 2012. The only exceptions to that were the records on Mr   Kulyk’s and Mr Tokach’s examination by a generalist on 28 and 30   March 2012, respectively, with a conclusion that they were in good health. Mr   Kulyk and Mr Tokach denied that those examinations had taken place. Witness evidence 58 .     The Government noted that the domestic investigation authorities had obtained testimonies of several life prisoners, who had been evacuated from Sokal Prison together with the applicants and who had refuted the allegations of ill-treatment. 59 .     The applicants’ lawyer submitted to the Court a copy of written statements made in January 2020 by Mr Ovsiyenko, as well as Mr   M., Mr   K. and Mr Ch. (see paragraphs 37, 43 and 51 above for the references to these witnesses by the prosecution authorities in the course of the domestic investigation), in which they noted that they had never given any testimonies to the investigation authorities. They also confirmed that life prisoners, including themselves, had been ill-treated during the evacuation. 60 .     Furthermore, according to the applicants’ lawyer, she had a telephone conversation with Mr Or. (see paragraph 51 above), who also denied having testified before the investigation authorities. Being illiterate, he was not able to confirm that in writing. 61 .     The applicant’s lawyer also obtained a written statement by Mr G. (see paragraph 51 above), in which he submitted that the authorities had forced him to testify that there had been no beating in exchange for a promise not to transfer him to a different prison, which they had kept. 62 .     In addition, written statements from life prisoners Mr Lu. and Mr T. were provided confirming the applicants’ version of the events. RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK 63 .     The relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”) of 1960 (repealed with effect from 19   November 2012) can be found in Kaverzin v. Ukraine (no. 23893/03, § 45, 15 May 2012). 64 .     The relevant provisions of the CCP of 2012 (in force since 19   November 2012) can be found in Nagorskiy v. Ukraine ((dec.), no.   37794/14, § 38, 4   February 2016). THE LAW locus standi of mr vasyl yovdiy’s brother 65.     The Court notes that Mr Vasyl Yovdiy died after having lodged his application under Article 34 of the Convention (see paragraph 3 above). 66.     In their observations of 19 November 2019, the Government submitted that the application should be struck out of the list in so far as it concerned the deceased applicant, given that no heirs had presented themselves to pursue the case   on his behalf. 67.     Subsequently, after Mr Vasyl Yovdiy’s brother expressed the wish to pursue the application on 1   May 2020 (see paragraph 3 above), the Government did not contest his locus standi . 68.     It is therefore not disputed that Mr Vasyl Yovdiy’s brother is entitled to pursue the application on his behalf and the Court sees no reason to hold otherwise (see   Karabet and Others v. Ukraine , nos. 38906/07 and 52025/07, §   230, 17 January 2013, with further references). However, reference will still be made to Mr Yovdiy (implying the initial applicant, Mr Vasyl Yovdiy) throughout the ensuing text. SCOPE OF THE CASE 69.     In her observations of 15 June 2020 made on behalf of the applicants in reply to those of the Government, the applicant’s lawyer lodged a number of new complaints. Relying on Article 34 of the Convention, she complained that the administration of the Lviv SIZO had prevented the applicants from sending out any complaints. The lawyer also raised the following complaints, with the reference to Article 38 of the Convention: that, as soon as she had started representing the applicants in October 2013, they had been intimidated by prison officials; that prison guards had ill ‑ treated Mr   Kondrashyn in 2016; that there had been regular searches by a special police unit in Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison starting from 2012; that the suicide of Mr Yovdiy in April 2019 raised suspicions; that Mr Starenkyy and Mr   Agabalayev had been arbitrarily placed in solitary confinement for fourteen days in February 2020. Furthermore, the applicants’ lawyer made the following allegations, without referring to any Convention provisions: lack of adequate medical care for various health concerns (Mr Starenkyy, Mr   Baylo, Mr Deynega, Mr   Drugov, Mr   Grechukh and Mr Tokach); poor material conditions of detention in Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison (Mr   Starenkyy and Mr Baylo); poor conditions of transportation from the Lviv SIZO to Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison (Mr   Deynega); inadequate amount of the disability pension (Mr   Drugov and Mr Tokach). Lastly, she complained about the alleged ill-treatment by prison staff: of Mr   Petryshak on an unspecified date in the Lviv SIZO and on 1   August 2012 in Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison; and of Mr Starenkyy in February 2020 in Novgorod-Siverskyy Prison. 70.     The Court has held that the scope of a case “referred to” it in the exercise of the right of individual application is determined by the applicant’s complaint or “claim”. Allegations made after the communication of the case to the respondent Government can only be examined by the Court if they constitute an elaboration of the applicant’s original complaint (see, among many other authorities, Zikatanova and Others v.   Bulgaria , no.   45806/11, § 109, 12 December 2019, and the references cited therein). 71.     In the Court’s view, the new complaints submitted after the communication do not concern factual developments with respect to a continuing situation and are not an elaboration of the applicants’ original complaints, on which the parties have commented. The Court does not therefore find it appropriate to examine these matters in the present context. The applicants had the opportunity to lodge new applications in respect of any other complaints relating to the subsequent events in accordance with the requirements set out in Rule 47 of the Rules of Court (see Aliyev v.   Azerbaijan , nos. 68762/14 and 71200/14, §   97, 20 September 2018). ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION 72.     Relying on Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention, the applicants complained that they had been ill-treated during the fire evacuation from Sokal Prison on 27 March 2012 and that there had been no effective domestic investigation into that matter. Their complaints fall to be examined under Article 3 of the Convention only, which reads as follows: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Admissibility 73.     The Government submitted that the applicants could not be regarded as having exhausted the domestic remedies available to them under domestic law as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention. The Government observed, in particular, that some of the applicants had not raised any complaints at the domestic level at all, whereas others had not challenged all the relevant decisions to higher-level authorities where such a possibility had existed. 74.     The applicants argued that all of them had suffered the same ill ‑ treatment and that, from the procedural point of view, the legal effect of the complaints raised at the domestic level by a few of them was the same as could potentially be the effect of complaints from each of the sixteen applicants. In other words, they maintained that it was pointless to raise the same complaint sixteen times at the domestic level. The applicants therefore considered that their situation had been similar to that examined by the Court in the case of Karabet and Others (cited above, §§   238-50). 75 .     The Court considers that the issue of exhaustion of domestic remedies is closely linked to the substance of the applicants’ complaint concerning the alleged lack of an effective   investigation and must therefore be joined to the merits of that complaint. 76.     The Court   further   notes that this complaint is neither manifestly ill ‑ founded within the meaning of Article 35 §§ 3   (a) of the Convention nor inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible. Merits Alleged ineffectiveness of the domestic investigation (a)    The parties’ submissions 77.     The applicants submitted that the domestic authorities had made no meaningful efforts to establish the truth regarding their ill-treatment or to punish those responsible. 78.     In the applicants’ opinion, the investigation was superficial and formalistic and its conclusions were mainly based on testimonies of the prison staff and other officials involved in the evacuation. 79.     The Government contested those arguments and submitted that all possible investigative steps had been taken in response to the applicants’ complaints. They pointed out that the authorities’ efforts had not been limited to pre-investigation enquiries but had included a fully-fledged investigation and that its findings had been upheld by courts on several occasions. The Government also observed that the applicants and numerous other prisoners, who had been evacuated together with the applicants, had been questioned in the course of the investigation. 80 .     While the Government conceded that there had been a considerable delay in the conduct of forensic medical examinations, they argued that that delay was attributable to the applicants, who had not lodged any complaints immediately after their alleged ill-treatment. (b)    The Court’s assessment (i)       General principles 81.     The obligation to carry out an effective investigation into allegations of treatment infringing Article 3 suffered at the hands of State agents is well established in the Court’s case-law (see, for example, El-Masri v. the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia [GC], no. 39630/09, §§   182-85, ECHR   2012, and Bouyid v. Belgium [GC], no. 23380/09, §§   114-23, ECHR   2015). 82 .     As explained in the Court’s case-law, that obligation means instituting and conducting an investigation capable of leading to the establishment of the facts and of identifying and – if appropriate ‑ punishing those responsible. The Court has also stressed that, in accordance with their procedural obligation, the authorities must act of their own motion once the matter has come to their attention. In particular, they cannot leave it to the initiative of the victim to take responsibility for the conduct of any investigatory procedures. The Court has also held that the procedural obligation is a requirement of means and not of results. The fact that an investigation ends without concrete, or with only limited, results is not indicative of any failings as such. Nevertheless, the authorities must take whatever reasonable steps they can to collect evidence and elucidate the circumstances of the case (see S.M. v. Croatia [GC], no. 60561/14, §§   313 ‑ 16, 25 June 2020, with numerous further case-law references). (ii)     Application of the above principles to the present case 83 .     Turning to the present case, the Court notes that, as confirmed by the documentary evidence in the case file, the allegation of prisoners’ ill ‑ treatment during the fire evacuation was brought to the attention of prosecution authorities by Mr Kulyk before 15   June 2012 (see paragraph   29 above). Having regard to the seriousness of the issues raised, the Court considers that that single complaint was sufficient to trigger the procedural obligation of the State to elucidate the circumstances of the evacuation of all the sixty-eight life prisoners and to investigate whether any of them might have been a victim of unjustified violence. Regardless of possible obstacles in the investigation or its eventual outcome, a prompt response by the authorities would have been essential in maintaining public confidence in their adherence to the rule of law and in preventing any appearance of collusion in or tolerance of unlawful acts (see Bouyid , cited above, § 121). 84.     There is nothing to indicate the authorities’ efforts to manifest such a prompt response in the present case. Thus, it appears that no follow-up whatsoever was given to Mr Kulyk’s complaint after the Prosecutor General’s Office had forwarded it for investigation to the Lviv Prosecutor’s Office. As regards the subsequent complaints raised by Mr   Baylo, Mr   Starenkyy and Mr Kuznyetsov before the domestic authorities in June 2012 (see paragraph 30 above), the Court notes that, in spite of the applicants’ consistent allegation that they had sustained injuries which remained unrecorded (see paragraph 31 above), the prosecution authorities preferred, for a long period of time, to hold the absence of any records of injuries against the applicants instead of verifying the accuracy of their allegations and taking necessary steps for securing medical and other evidence (see, in particular, paragraphs 35, 38, 39, 43 and 45 above). 85.     The earliest forensic medical expert examination, of Mr Baylo, took place only on 21-25 February 2013, that is almost a year after the events complained of. Even though the expert reported an injury (a scar) which could have been inflicted on Mr Baylo at the time and under the circumstances as alleged by him, it was impossible to reach a more precise conclusion given the time elapsed (see paragraphs 38 and 45 above). Owing to an even longer delay with the forensic medical examination of Mr   Kuznyetsov and Mr Petryshak, which took place on 21-22 May 2013, the absence of any injuries reported by the expert (regardless of whether she had examined Mr Kusnyetsov in person, which the latter denied – see paragraph 38 above), was of little probative value. As regards a forensic expert examination of Mr Starenkyy, which was ordered later yet, on 7   February 2014, it was apparently never carried out (see paragraph   42 above). 86.     The Court cannot accept the Government’s argument that the delays with the forensic medical expert examinations were attributable to the applicants (see paragraph 80 above). According to the Government themselves, Mr Baylo complained of his alleged ill-treatment for the first time on 15 June 2012 (see paragraph 28 above). Nothing therefore prevented the authorities from carrying out his forensic medical examination already in June 2012. Instead, they waited for another six   months before conducting such a crucial investigative measure. 87.     The Court notes that, until the entry into force of the new Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”) on 19 November 2012, the applicants’ complaints had been handled in the form of a pre-investigation enquiry under the CCP of 1960 (see paragraphs 33, 51, 63 and 64 above). The Court has already held that that procedure was foul of the Article 3 standards, given that the enquiring officer could only take a limited number of steps and the victim had no formal status and could not effectively participate in the procedure (see, for example, Savitskyy v.   Ukraine , no.   38773/05, § 105, 26 July 2012). That criticism also holds true for the manner, in which the domestic authorities handled the applicants’ complaints in the present case prior to 19   November 2012. 88.     As regards the investigation thereafter, the Court cannot but observe that, in spite of the clearly improved legislative frameworks enabling, or even requiring, a fully-fledged investigation into every allegation of a criminal offence, the investigation into the applicants’ complaints of ill ‑ treatment showed little sign of improvement. The following deficiencies can be noted as most telling: repeated discontinuation of the investigation without the applicants’ forensic medical examination (see paragraphs 33, 38, 42, 43, 45 and 51 above); the failure to carry out any investigative measures in respect of the material evidence adduced on 21 February 2013 (Mr   Baylo’s clothes, which he had supposedly been wearing during the evacuation in March 2012 and which contained stains of what appeared to be blood – see paragraph 39 above); refusal of Mr Baylo’s pertinent procedural requests on the grounds that he had