The applicant, Mr Mikayil Sattar oglu Mammadov is an Azerbaijani national who was born in 1961. Him and his family lived in a room in a State-owned hostel in Sumgayit up until 2003 when they discovered that three rooms nearby, which belonged to the local army recruitment office, were vacant. The applicant repaired those rooms and moved into them together with his family at the end of 2003.
On 26 March 2004, a group of local authorities’ representatives and police officers turned up at the applicant’s dwelling without a court order for eviction. Apparently distressed by the arrival of the authorities, who she feared had come to evict her family, the applicant’s wife poured kerosene over herself and set it on fire. As a result of that she suffered multiple serious burns affecting half of her body and died from complications on 30 March 2004. Mr Mammadov alleged that the police officers did not take her threat seriously but instead mockingly encouraged her to keep her word and carry her threat through; this was denied by the authorities who submitted that at least one police officer tried to help Ms Mammadova put out the fire she had set on herself inside the dwelling.
Following the incident, the police loaded the applicant’s family possessions onto a truck and took them back to the hostel room where the family had resided previously.
A preliminary inquiry was carried out into the death of Ms Mammadova and a decision was taken by the investigator in May 2004 not to start criminal proceedings for lack of evidence that anyone had in any way provoked Ms Mammadova’s act. That decision was confirmed by the prosecutors several times between July and September 2004. In 2005, criminal proceedings were eventually brought into Ms Mammadova’s death and investigative measures were ordered. A number of witnesses were questioned including the applicant’s family members and representatives of the local authorities and the police who were at the scene. The investigation was subsequently suspended several times for failure to identify the person who had incited Ms Mammadova to commit suicide; it was finally terminated in September 2008.
Relying on Articles 2, 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 6 (right to a fair trial) and 13 (right to an effective remedy), Mr Mammadov complained that the Azerbaijani authorities had been responsible for his wife’s death because, among other things, they had entered his dwelling unlawfully and failed to save his wife when she had set herself on fire.
The Court considered that there had been no violation in respect of the authorities’ obligation to guarantee and protect the right to life.
The Court considered, however, that the investigation carried out into the death of the applicant’s wife had been inadequate as it had not covered all the issues relevant for the assessment of the State’s responsibility in the incident. In particular, the investigation had been limited to the question of whether the State agents incited Ms Mammadova to commit suicide, while it should have examined also whether the authorities had done everything necessary to prevent her death or minimise the injuries she received. The investigation had been marked by a number of other shortcomings, such as the failure to take immediate action, the fact that it had lasted over four years, the omission to reconstruct the sequence and duration of the events and to address the discrepancies in the witness statements. Therefore, there had been a violation of Article 2.
The Court rejected the applicant’s other complaints.
English
Jurisdiction:
Council of Europe - European Court of Human Rights
Article 2 - Right to life
Subject:
Squats and slums
Human rights
Rights of residents
