71 Illustrative examples of health and human rights implications The police reportedly used excessive force against peaceful protesters in an OSCE participating State in 2016, and dozens of protesters and some journalists were injured by stun grenades. The injuries included first- and second-degree burns and fragmentation wounds, and one protester reportedly lost an eye after being hit by fragments. A major NGO reported on the impact of a stun grenade exploding near a man’s feet shortly after he joined the protest, noting that his legs were covered in blood. Doctors removed five plastic fragments of the stun grenade from his legs, which were covered in first- and second-degree burns and 30 lacerations. The police used stun grenades during large student protests in 2012, resulting in several injuries. One of the protesters reportedly lost the use of an eye after a “Rubber Ball Blast Grenade” [a hand-thrown grenade manufactured in the United States that emits a bright flash, loud bang and chemical irritant] exploded near his head. In 2017, the Court, assessing the case, held that the evidence demonstrated the “high risk” of using the device in question and was particularly critical of the fact that the police chose to downplay this risk, in spite of the warnings on the manufacturer’s datasheet that the product must be handled, stored and used with extreme care and caution, and that improper use can result in death or serious bodily injury. The government of the participating State appointed a former Public Safety Minister to lead a commission, tasked with investigating the events surrounding the 2012 student protests. The Minister recommended that the use of stun grenades for crowd-control purposes be prohibited until public studies could demonstrate their utility and the risks they present. In 2014, a protester died from injuries caused by a stun grenade explosion during a protest against the construction of a dam. The stun grenade reportedly exploded in close proximity to the protester’s back, severing the top of his spinal cord and killing him instantly. Following his death, the Minister of the Interior announced the suspension of the use of the grenade in question for law enforcement purposes, stating that the munition had killed a 21-year-old man, and that this must never happen again.