10 HOVHANNISYAN v. ARMENIA JUDGMENT 46. Concerning the procedural aspect of Article 3, the Government maintained that Armenian law contained all the mechanisms and investigation procedures required in order to have perpetrators of illtreatment adequately punished. In the present case, the authorities had carried out an effective investigation, which had led to the conclusion that no crime had been committed during the incident in question. The investigation had been thorough, prompt and independent, and the involvement of the applicant in the process had been adequately ensured. All the necessary investigative measures had been taken by the investigative authorities but none of the witness statements had confirmed the applicant’s allegations. The investigative authorities’ refusal to initiate criminal proceedings had been upheld by the domestic courts at three levels of jurisdiction. The inquiry had started on the very day when the applicant had reported the matter to the police. The results of medical examinations had been taken into account and relied on together with all the other evidentiary material. The inquiry had been completely independent and the applicant had been fully involved in it. 47. There had thus been no violation of the substantive or procedural aspect of Article 3 of the Convention. 2. The Court’s assessment (a) General principles 48. The Court reiterates at the outset that ill-treatment must attain a minimum level of severity if it is to fall within the scope of Article 3. The assessment of this minimum is relative: it depends on all the circumstances of the case, such as the nature and context of the treatment, its duration, its physical and mental effects and, in some instances, the sex, age and state of health of the victim (see, for example, Bouyid v. Belgium [GC], no. 23380/09, § 86, ECHR 2015; M. and M. v. Croatia, no. 10161/13, § 131, 3 September 2015); and D.M.D. v. Romania, no. 23022/13, § 40, 3 October 2017. 49. Treatment has been held by the Court to be ‘degrading ‒ and thus to fall within the scope of the prohibition set out in Article 3 of the Convention ‒ if it causes in its victim feelings of fear, anguish and inferiority (see, for example, Ireland v. the United Kingdom, 18 January 1978, § 167, Series A no. 25, and Stanev v. Bulgaria [GC], no. 36760/06, § 203, ECHR 2012), if it humiliates or debases an individual (humiliation in the victim’s own eyes, see Raninen v. Finland, 16 December 1997, § 32, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997-VIII, and/or in other people’s eyes, see Gutsanovi v. Bulgaria, no. 34529/10, § 136, ECHR 2013 (extracts)), whether or not that was the aim (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 120, ECHR 2000-IV), if it breaks the person’s physical or moral resistance or drives him or her to act against his or her will or conscience (see Jalloh v. Germany