## Facts

- Ahmed Selmouni was arrested in Paris on 25 Nov. 1991 on suspicion of large-scale drug trafficking and held in police custody for about three days.
- During custody at an anti-drug squad unit, he alleged repeated beatings and other serious abuses by police officers, including threats and sexual humiliation; he also alleged rape with an object.
- He complained of ill-treatment during custody and was medically examined multiple times.
- Medical documentation recorded numerous injuries (at least twenty-two), assessed as traumatic and temporally consistent with the custody period; later expert analysis undermined the explanation that all injuries occurred during a single struggle at arrest.
- In Feb. 1993, Selmouni filed a criminal complaint against unknown officers and joined as a civil party; investigations and proceedings progressed slowly over years with successive investigating judges.
- French courts ultimately convicted several officers of assault but imposed relatively lenient sentences.
- Separately, Selmouni was prosecuted and sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment for drug-trafficking offenses.

## Issues

1. Whether the treatment inflicted on Selmouni during police custody constituted torture, inhuman treatment, or degrading treatment prohibited by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
2. Whether the length of domestic proceedings concerning his complaint against police violated the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6(1).
3. Whether the application was inadmissible for failure to exhaust domestic remedies under Article 35 in light of ongoing and delayed domestic proceedings.

## Decision

- The Grand Chamber found a violation of Article 3 and classified the custody ill-treatment as torture attributable to France.
- The Court found a violation of Article 6(1) because the domestic proceedings, particularly the investigation into the ill-treatment allegations, were not concluded within a reasonable time.
- The Court rejected the non-exhaustion objection under Article 35, concluding Selmouni had pursued available remedies to the extent reasonably expected given the delays.
- The Court awarded just satisfaction for non-pecuniary damage and costs.

## Legal Principles

- Article 3 is absolute: no circumstances, including investigative needs or the seriousness of suspected crime, justify torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.
- In determining whether ill-treatment reaches the threshold of Article 3 and how it is classified, relevant factors include the nature and context of the acts, method of execution, duration, physical and mental effects, and the victim’s condition.
- Sustained, deliberate violence and humiliation inflicted on a detainee in a position of vulnerability, especially for the purpose of obtaining information or confessions, may constitute torture.
- The classification boundary between “torture” and “inhuman or degrading treatment” is not fixed; practices previously labeled inhuman or degrading may be classified as torture as human-rights protection standards rise.
- Under Article 6(1), “reasonable time” is assessed with regard to case complexity and the conduct of the parties and authorities; prolonged investigative delay attributable to authorities can violate the Convention.
- Exhaustion of domestic remedies is applied pragmatically; where remedies are pursued but proceedings are protracted or ineffective, delay may not be held against an applicant.

## Conclusion

The Court held that severe and purposeful police abuse during custody amounted to torture in breach of Article 3, and that France also violated Article 6(1) by allowing the related domestic proceedings to run for an excessive time despite the gravity of the allegations.


Selmouni v. France, 1999-V Eur. Ct. H.R. 149 (Grand Chamber 1999)