In the case of A.J. and L.E. v. Spain the Court held that there had been a violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and a violation of the right to respect for private and family life.

The case concerned the investigation into the applicants’ complaints that they had been drugged and sexually assaulted (by chemical submission), as well as into the subsequent loss and manipulation of crucial evidence in police custody.

The Court found that the Spanish authorities had failed to conduct an effective investigation, in particular due to systematic loss and manipulation of potentially crucial evidence, insufficient guarantees of independence of the investigation, and a manifestly inadequate response to those investigative failures, which went beyond “isolated errors” or minor investigative omissions. The steps taken by the authorities had not been able to compensate for the loss of evidence that had been central to the allegations of chemical submission. Moreover, investigations into possible police misconduct had been instituted only after a considerable lapse of time and had been entrusted to the same judicial and police bodies that had supervised the original investigation.

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