Judgment concerning Italy
In the case of Cioffi v. Italy the Court held that there had been a violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment.
The case concerned the taking of the applicant, then a trainee lawyer to a Naples police station, where he had suffered alleged ill-treatment at the hands of police officers, including being punched while on his knees, and verbal and physical abuse when he had attempted to request information. This took place against the background of the Global Forum on Reinventing Government in Naples.
The Court found that the facts of his ill-treatment by the police had been clearly established by the Italian courts, which had described it, among other terms, as “particularly odious”. It also held the subsequent investigation – in which 31 officials had been charged with multiple offences in connection with these events but most of the prosecutions had been discontinued owing to the expiry of the limitation period – to have been inadequate.