| Applicant name | VUČKOVIĆ |
| Applicant type | Natural person |
| Number of applicants | 1 |
| Country | Croatia |
| Application no. | 15798/20 |
| Date | 12/12/2023 |
| Judges | Arnfinn Bårdsen, President, Jovan Ilievski, Egidijus Kūris, Pauliine Koskelo, Frédéric Krenc, Diana Sârcu, Davor Derenčinović |
| Institution | Court |
| Type | Judgment |
| Outcome Art. 8 | Violation |
| Reason | Positive obligation |
| Type of privacy | Procedural privacy; bodily privacy |
| Keywords | Conviction sexual offense low |
| Facts of the case | The case concerns the applicant’s complaints under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention that commuting a ten-month prison sentence imposed on her co-worker to community service, after he had been convicted of sexual violence against her, had resulted in a disproportionately lenient punishment, given the seriousness of the offences he had committed. |
| Analysis | The Court emphasises the wide margin of appreciation for the state and even underlines that it endorses the growing importance of community service as an integral and useful component of modern penal policy. In addition, there are differences throughout Europe regarding the use of community service as an alternative to a prison sentence, which reflect each country’s domestic context, penological system and tradition, all factors that need to be taken into account when adjudicating these cases at an international level, in line with the principle of subsidiarity as expressed in the Preamble to the Convention. However, in the particular circumstances of the case, bearing in mind the specific social danger of violence against women and the need to combat it with efficient and deterrent actions, in its response to the violence suffered by the applicant, the State did not sufficiently discharge its procedural obligation to ensure that the repeated sexual violence she had suffered in her workplace was dealt with appropriately. There has been a violation of Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention. |
| Other Article violation? | Yes, Article 3 ECHR |
| Damage awarded | hat the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following amounts: (i) EUR 10,000 (ten thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage; (ii) EUR 3,050 (three thousand and fifty euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant, in respect of costs and expenses; |
| Documents | Judgment |