At its Human Rights meeting on 9 to 11 March, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in the case of Soare and Others v. Romania.
The case concerned life-threatening injuries caused by the unjustified and disproportionate use of firearms by police officers, in the absence of an adequate legislative framework and operational safeguards to minimise the use of lethal force (Article 2 of the Convention).
In response to the judgment, the Romanian authorities have amended the legal framework regulating the use of potentially lethal force, introducing clear rules based on the principles of necessity, proportionality and gradual escalation. New operational safeguards guiding police conduct, together with strengthened prosecutorial and judicial oversight, and the development of advanced training and evaluation programmes on the use of firearms have led to a significant decrease in the use of firearms during police operations and a marked reduction in fatalities and injuries.
Welcoming these developments, the Committee of Ministers decided to close its supervision of this aspect of the case. At the same time it decided to continue the examination of certain outstanding general measures in relation to the effective remedy to obtain compensation as well as outstanding individual measures in the cases of Pârvu, Pârvu and Others and Flori under the standard supervision procedure.
