The case concerns an application brought by Abu Bakah Jalloh, a national of Sierra Leone, who was born in 1965 and lives in Cologne (Germany). On 29 October 1993, plain-clothes policemen spotted the applicant taking two tiny plastic bags out of his mouth and handing them over for money. Considering that the bags contained drugs, the police officers went over to arrest the applicant. While they were doing so he swallowed another tiny bag he still had in his mouth. As no drugs were found on him, the competent public prosecutor ordered that he be given an emetic (Brechmittel) to force him to regurgitate the bag.
The applicant was taken to a hospital in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, where he saw a doctor. As he refused to take medication to induce vomiting, four police officers held him down while a doctor inserted a tube through his nose and administered a salt solution and Ipecacuanha syrup by force. The doctor also injected him with apomorphine, a morphine derivative. As a result the applicant regurgitated a small bag containing 0.2182 g of cocaine. A short while later he was examined by a doctor who declared him fit for detention. About two hours after being given the emetics, the applicant, who was found not to speak German, said in broken English that he was too tired to make a statement about the alleged offense. On 30 October 1993 the applicant was charged with drug-trafficking and placed in detention on remand.
The applicant complained that he had been administered an emetic by force and that the evidence thereby obtained – in his view, illegally – had been used against him at his trial. He further complained that his right not to incriminate himself had been violated. He relied on Articles 3, 6 and 8 of the Convention.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)