R.R. and R.D. v Slovakia (Rule 9 submission, 2020)

17 February 2023

On 19th June 2013, dozens of police officers raided the Romani neighborhood in Moldava nad Bodvou. They broke into people's homes without a warrant, causing serious damage to some of them, and assaulted about 30 people, including women and children, with batons and stun guns. They then took some of the beaten men to the police station, where they suffered further physical and psychological violence. In case of R.R. and R.D. v Slovakia, the victims were represented by Poradňa pre občianske a ľudské práva before the European Court of Human Rights.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in favour of the victims of the police raid 7 years later in 2020. The judgment states that the irregularities in the investigation were so serious that the investigation was ineffective and not in line with Article 3 of the Convention. According to the judgment, the Slovak Republic also failed to meet its positive obligation under Article 14 of the Convention (prohibition of discrimination) as no adequate measures were taken during the investigation to disclose the potential racial motivation of the police intervention.

On 30th January 2023, we made a submission jointly with Poradňa pre občianske a ľudské práva (“Poradňa”) and Fórum for Human Rights (“FORUM”) to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (a "Rule 9" submission), setting out what steps Slovakia needs to take to implement the judgment, as well as requesting that the Committee of Ministers continue examining the execution of the judgment.