TEIXEIRA DE CASTRO JUDGMENT
15
DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE BUTKEVYCH
I regret that I cannot agree with such a decision. I am ready to share the
fear that unsanctioned acts of the police, even if inspired by noble
intentions, may result in gross infringements of human rights. If one
considers the rights and freedoms of an individual apart from rights and
freedoms of society as a whole, the conclusion must be in favour of an
individual. However, bearing in mind that some rights and freedoms cannot
be regarded separately because they are not absolute rights, one should
weigh against the defence of an individual’s rights restrictions on those
rights imposed to protect the rights of other members of society.
One should be particularly attentive in approaching the observance of
such a balance when offences posing a danger for society are concerned, for
example: violent transplant of human organs for gain, trade in people,
forced prostitution, terrorism, unlawful trade in components of weapons of
mass destruction and drug trafficking.
In the present case the applicant knew that he was committing a criminal
offence. The fact that he did not know that those offering to buy the heroin
from him were police officers does not change the essence of the case.
The argument that qualified “undercover agents” acted as “agents
provocateurs”, inter alia, is unconvincing in this case. The reference in the
trial documents of the national courts to “even if they were agents
provocateurs” does not mean that they were in fact “provocateurs”. In any
society a person selling drugs without appropriate or any other necessary
authorisation knows or should know that he can cause damage to third
parties. Moreover, it is not difficult for him to accuse another person of
being a “provocateur” as part of his defence. Furthermore, in such cases the
legislation allows the use of “undercover agents”.
Also, in my opinion, the trial documents are not unambiguous because
the national judicial bodies based their decisions exclusively on the
evidence of the police officers.
I concur with those judicial decisions grounded on the facts found by the
Commission. However, I cannot support the rationale for these decisions on
the basis of my hesitation regarding the qualification of this paper.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents