Judgment concerning Italy
In the case of Scuderoni v. Italy the Court held that there had been a violation of the prohibition of ill-treatment and of the right to respect for private life and correspondence.
The case concerned domestic violence suffered by a woman for nine months after she had separated from her partner.
The Court found that the authorities had failed in their duty to carry out an immediate, proactive assessment of the risk that the applicant’s former partner would subject her to further violence. In particular, the applicant’s request for a protection order had been refused without any risk assessment being performed, and the civil court had set the hearing date for nine months after she had lodged her urgent application. There had also been a two-month delay before her criminal complaint had been registered.
The Court further considered that given how the authorities had dealt with the evidence before them – which had shown that the applicant was suffering spousal abuse –, they had not taken the specific issue of domestic violence into account during the criminal investigation. They had thereby failed in their obligation to provide a response that was proportionate to the seriousness of the applicant’s allegations. The domestic courts had made no serious attempt to obtain a comprehensive view of the applicant’s situation, despite that being a requirement in this type of case.