GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT 5 shoes through woods to where he had left the corpse and, on the orders of the police, he had had to point out its precise location. The Government disputed that the applicant had had to walk without shoes. 18. Upon forensic examination of the scene, the police discovered tyre tracks left by the applicant’s car near the pond near Birstein. Under questioning by detective officer M. on the return journey from Birstein the applicant confessed to having kidnapped and killed J. He was then taken by the police to various other locations indicated by him where they secured J.’s school exercise books, a backpack, J.’s clothes and a typewriter used for the blackmail letter in containers. An autopsy carried out on J.’s corpse on 2 October 2002 confirmed that J. had died of suffocation. 19. Having returned to the police station, the applicant was then permitted to consult his lawyer, En., who had been instructed to act on his behalf by his mother and who had tried, in vain, to contact and advise the applicant earlier that morning. 20. In a note for the police file dated 1 October 2002, the deputy chief of the Frankfurt police, D., stated that he believed that that morning J.’s life had been in great danger, if he was still alive at all, given his lack of food and the temperature outside. In order to save the child’s life, he had therefore ordered the applicant to be threatened by detective officer E. with considerable pain which would not leave any trace of injury. He confirmed that the treatment itself was to be carried out under medical supervision. D. further admitted that he had ordered another police officer to obtain a “truth serum” to be administered to the applicant. According to the note, the threat to the applicant was exclusively aimed at saving the child’s life rather than furthering the criminal proceedings concerning the kidnapping. As the applicant had disclosed the whereabouts of J.’s body, having been threatened with pain, no measures had in fact been carried out. 21. A medical certificate issued by a police doctor on 4 October 2002 confirmed that the applicant had a haematoma (7 cm x 5 cm) below his left collarbone, skin lesions and blood scabs on his left arm and his knees and swellings on his feet. A further medical certificate dated 7 October 2002 noted that, following an examination of the applicant on 2 October 2002, two haematomas on the left-hand side of the applicant’s chest of a diameter of around 5 cm and 4 cm were confirmed, together with superficial skin lesions or blood scabs on his left arm, his knees and his right leg and closed blisters on his feet. According to the certificate, these discreet traces of injuries indicated that the injuries had been caused a few days before the examination. The precise cause of the injuries could not be diagnosed. 22. During subsequent questioning by the police on 4 October 2002, by a public prosecutor on 4, 14 and 17 October 2002, and by a district court judge on 30 January 2003 the applicant confirmed the confession he had made on 1 October 2002.