Two Ukrainian nationals lodged this complaint against the Ukraine under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (the “Convention”) in 2003. The applicants alleged that they were ill-treated by the police and that no effective investigations of the event took place. One of the applicants also alleged that he had been …Read more

This case involved an appeal from a decision made by a three-judge court that was convened by the Federal District Court to decide the appropriate remedy for violations of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The violations were the subject of two related Federal District Court cases in California: Coleman v. Brown (1990) …Read more

A minor child, L.C., began to be sexually abused at the age of 11 years by a 34-year-old man. Two years later, L.C. became pregnant, and in response, attempted suicide by jumping from a building. L.C. survived her suicide attempt, and she was taken to a public hospital where she was diagnosed with a series …Read more

The petitioners claimed that a group of armed police officers arrived on their land and without warning or a court order begun demolishing the houses and structures of the petitioners, leaving them homeless. Further, they alleged that police used tear gas and physical violence to evict the petitioners, who were resisting the demolition. The petitioners …Read more

The applicant, a Russian citizen who was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculosis papillitis of the kidneys, was transferred to a special “medical colony” to serve a prison sentence of two years and six months for an aggravated robbery conviction. Upon his arrival, the facility provided a new complex prophylactic examination by a tuberculosis specialist …Read more

The applicant is an Afghan male who in early 2008 fled war-stricken Kabul, where he claimed to have feared for his life as a result of his service as a translator for international air force troops based in that city. The applicant first entered Greece, where Greek authorities entered his fingerprints into the common European …Read more

IA was a journalist and activist for the ‘For Freedom’ movement. On 10 October 2007 IA was hanging blue ribbons in Brest, Belarus in order to draw public attention to the ‘European March’ campaign. IA was arrested by a police officer and taken to the Interior Department of Lenin District of Brest City. IA was …Read more

On 23 October 2002 a group of terrorists armed with machine-guns and explosives took hostages in the ‘Dubrovka’ theatre in Moscow. For three days, more than 900 people were held at gunpoint and the theatre building was booby-trapped with suicide bombers positioned amongst the hostages. During the three days, the terrorists made certain demands and …Read more

On 24 October 2004, TM and his wife were in custody at the local police station on a public disturbance charge following an argument in the street. While in police custody, TM died, and there was a dispute of fact as to how his death occurred. The ambulance doctor who attended the scene testified that …Read more

Petitioner NGO brought a petition requesting that the Court declare that the act of female genital mutilation (FGM) was in violation of various articles of the Uganda Constitution.  The Petitioner argued that FGM was practiced extensively by the certain Ugandan tribes, and that FGM was crudely carried out, involved excruciating pain, could lead to death, …Read more

An amparo action (appeal for legal protection) was brought against the Ministry of Social Protection by the Colombian Commission of Jurists (Comisión Colombiana de Juristas) on behalf of three women (Diana Carmenza Redondo, Argénida Torres, and María Romero), who were victims of massacres orchestrated by either paramilitaries or guerrillas, who were thereafter displaced from their communities, …Read more

This case deals with a number of petitions lodged against Peru alleging a violation of the rights to humane treatment, personal liberty, fair trial, privacy and judicial protection enshrined in Articles 5 (Right to humane treatment), 7 (Right to personal liberty), 8 (Right to a fair trial), 9 (Freedom from ex post facto laws), 11 …Read more

Aranzazu Meneses de Jiménez, a General Service Operator at the Maria Inmaculada Hospital, filed a petition against the Republic of Colombia alleging a violation of article 4 (right to life), article 5 (right to humane treatment), and article 25 (right to judicial protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights and Articles 1, 2, 6 …Read more

The applicant, a Russian citizen, appeared before a military medical commission for a preliminary health assessment prior to being drafted to the Russian military. The commission diagnosed the applicant with hypotrophy of unknown genesis and declared him temporarily unfit to serve in the military. Six months later, the commission reexamined the applicant and found him …Read more

On 26 March 2009, the IACmHR submitted to the IACtHR a lawsuit against Brazil, which originated in a petition filed on 7 August 1995 by the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and Human Rights Watch/Americas. The underlying claims concerned Brazil’s alleged responsibility for the arbitrary detention, torture and forced disappearance of 70 people, …Read more

A girl allegedly raped claimed for abortion under the art. 86 (2) of the Criminal Code of Argentina, which excluded women from criminal liability when they have been raped and they were mentally disabled.  The girl had no disabilities. The First Instance Court authorized the abortion and, fifteen minutes later, gave notice to mass media. …Read more

RM was born a hermaphrodite/intersexual and was raised as male. His birth was not registered at the time, which caused RM difficulties later in life as he was not in consequence recognised by the State for employment, marriage or other legal reasons. RM was later convicted of an offence of robbery with violence and sentenced …Read more

Bradley McCallum, a detainee at a maximum correctional facility in South Africa, claimed to be a victim of violations of articles 7 and 10 of the International on Civil and Political Rights (“Covenant”). In particular, McCallum alleged that he was physically abused, raped, and subject to other ill treatment by South African prison authorities during …Read more

Ms Omeredo fled Nigeria in May 2003 to escape her village’s custom of female genital mutilation (FGM) and applied for asylum in Austria. The Federal Asylum Office and the Asylum Court rejected her application on the same grounds, namely that the applicant was expected to make use of the state’s protection by fleeing within Nigeria …Read more

The accused was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge of sexual assault with a weapon in 1983. He was subsequently detained in numerous mental health facilities. Before his annual review hearing in 2006 was held, the accused alleged that the centre in which he was detained had violated his constitutional rights …Read more

Jamey Wilkins (hereinafter “the Plaintiff”) filed an excessive force suit against Gaddy (hereinafter “the Defendant”) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  The Plaintiff was a state prisoner in North Carolina when he had asked a correctional officer, the Defendant, for a grievance form, and the …Read more

The petitioners alleged that more than 400 members of the Punachizag Community had abducted one of the petitioners’ son, Fredy Marcelo Núñez Naranjo, from jail “with the acquiescence of agents of the Ecuadorian State” and his whereabouts remained unknown. Petitioners also claimed that his mother and sister where kidnapped from their home. They alleged that …Read more

The matter pertained to a 19-20 year old, “mentally retarded”, woman (the victim) whose mental capacity was that of a nine year old. She was living in a welfare institution (the Institution) established by the Chandigarh Administration, having previously lived in a government institute for mentally retarded children. She became pregnant while living in the …Read more

The applicants were Russian nationals who resided in the district of Grozny in Chechnya, which was under curfew and the control of Russian federal forces. The applicants are the relatives of Arbi Karimov, the victim in this case. In the early morning of January 11th 2003, a group of armed and masked men broke into …Read more

Fifty buses worth of landless rural workers attempted to protest in Paraná’s capital for agrarian reform as large amounts of the rural lands in the state were owned by a few landholders. The caravan was intercepted by military police. When passengers got off one of the buses to inquire what was happening, the military police …Read more

Richard Solórzano Contreras was stabbed in the neck near his home in Guatemala from where his brother rushed him to the state hospital. Solórzano Contreras’s father, the petitioner, alleged that at the hospital the doctor and nurses did not perform any operations to try to save his son’s life. Rather, they “merely cleaned the wound, …Read more

Petitioner V.P.C. stated that on two occasions, her father H.R.A. took her nine-year-old daughter V.R.C. to a remote site, drugged her, and sexually abused her. Petitioner took her daughter to the hospital on October 16, 2001 because her daughter could not control her bowels. The doctor biopsied polyps near the daughter’s rectum and found that …Read more

In May 2007, the State of Panama, without community consultation, granted a concession for the construction of a hydroelectric dam within the traditional lands of an indigenous community, the Ngöbe. Although the construction of the dam was still in its initial stages at the time the petition was filed, the petitioner alleged that the work …Read more

The complainants, two human rights organizations based in Sudan, the United Kingdom and Canada, alleged gross and systematic violations of human rights on the part of the Republic of Sudan and Government-supported militia forces in the Darfur region against indigenous tribes, including the Fur, Marsalit and Zaghawa. The organizations alleged that since General Omar Al-Bashir …Read more

The Petitioner, S, was a man living with HIV. He was aware that he was HIV-positive since 1998 and had been undergoing treatment since then. In 2006, he began combination antiretroviral therapy. The Petitioner’s viral load had been undetectable since 2008 and he was not suffering from any other infections. The Petitioner’s doctors had assured …Read more