50 JALLOH v. GERMANY JUDGMENT JOINT DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGES RESS, PELLONPÄÄ, BAKA AND ŠIKUTA We disagree with the opinion of the majority on all points in this case and wish to explain our reasons for so doing. Article 3 First, unlike the majority, we do not think that Article 3 has been violated. While we agree with the way in which the general principles concerning Article 3 have been set out in the judgment (see paragraphs 6774), we disagree with the judgment as to how these principles should be applied to the present case. The judgment discusses the various elements regarded as relevant, starting in paragraph 77 with the question whether the intervention was necessary in order to obtain evidence. Also the majority accepts that drug trafficking is a serious offence, but adds that in this case “it was clear” that the applicant “had been storing drugs in his mouth and could not, therefore, have been offering drugs for sale on a large scale” (see paragraph 77 of the judgment). The relative lack of seriousness of the offence is, according to the judgment, “reflected in the sentence (a six-month suspended sentence and probation), which is at the lower end of the range of possible sentences” (ibid.). Leaving aside the question whether the seriousness of the offence can have any bearing on the issue whether the interference constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment, we find that the way in which the majority appears to minimise the gravity of the offence is not entirely justified. The judgment of the Wuppertal Regional Court of 17 May 1995, which is in the file, finds it established that before the interference the applicant had already handed over one bubble from his mouth to a buyer at 11.35 a.m. and disappeared for a time before returning at 12.25 p.m., when he again handed over a bubble to a buyer. Thus the situation observed by the police, who could not know how many bubbles the applicant had in his mouth, was one of the repeated sale of drugs. In these circumstances, it must be accepted that the police officers had reason to believe that the activities the applicant was involved in were of a certain gravity. We accept that it was decisive for the investigations into the applicant’s repeated trade in drugs for the authorities to be able to determine the exact amount and quality of the substances that were being offered for sale. The fact that following the administration of the emetics only one cocaine bubble was found cannot be decisive in this context, no more than the fact that in the end the applicant received only a rather lenient prison