The applicant, Fani-Yannula Petropoulou-Tsakiris, is a Greek national of Roma ethnic origin who lives in Nea Zoe, a Roma settlement in Aspropyrgos (Greece).
The case concerned, in particular, the applicant’s allegations that she suffered from a miscarriage as a result of police brutality and that the authorities failed to carry out an adequate investigation into the incident.
On 28 January 2002, a police operation involving 32 police officers was carried out in Nea Zoe following a tip-off about drug trafficking.
The applicant, two-and-a-half months pregnant at the time, claimed that, during that operation, she was waiting to be searched along with other Roma women when she noticed that a disabled relative of hers was being taunted by police officers. On trying to intervene, she was forcefully pushed back by one police officer and kicked in the back by another. She felt intense pain in the abdomen and started bleeding. She was not taken to hospital by the police and, not having any identification documents, feared going of her own accord.
The Government denied the applicant’s version of events and indeed any other allegations that civilians had been assaulted or subjected to racial abuse on 28 January 2002.
Relying on Article 3 and Article 13, the applicant alleged that she had been the victim of police brutality, resulting in a miscarriage, and that the Greek authorities had failed to carry out an adequate investigation into her allegation. She further alleged that her Roma ethnic origin had influenced the attitude and behaviour of the police and judicial authorities, in violation of Article 14 taken in conjunction with Article 3.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)