he was later released. The injuries suffered by the author required medical
attention at the Molina de Segura emergency unit.
2.2 On 31 October 1997, the author filed a complaint against the police
officers with Investigating Court No. 1, which was on duty at the time, but
no investigation was conducted.
2.3 The police officers who allegedly mounted the attack brought charges
against the author that very day, 29 October 1997, accusing him of insulting
officers of the law. In their charge, they claimed that at 4.55 a.m. the author
of the communication had approached them to ask whether there were any
bars open in the neighbourhood. The police officers had answered that there
were none open at that hour and the author had responded with insults. They
had asked for identification but he had refused, insulting them again. They
had thereupon placed the author, who had offered resistance, in the police
vehicle and had driven him to the police station for identification.
2.4 Investigating Court No. 6 of Murcia, before which the charges were
brought, instituted a minor-offence procedure and summoned the parties to
the oral proceedings on 25 November 1997. During the proceedings, the
author stated that he had filed a complaint against the police officers with
the court on duty. The judge thereupon suspended the proceedings and, on
27 November, requested Investigating Court No. 1 to transmit the author's
complaint on the grounds that it had jurisdiction to undertake the relevant
investigation. The judge finally pronounced judgement on 17 March 1998.
He characterized the language used by the author to the police officers as a
minor insult to an officer of the law and sentenced him to a fine and
payment of the costs of the proceedings. The judgement mentioned that the
author and the proposed witnesses had not appeared before the court and
stated in one paragraph that the author had claimed to have been assaulted
on the way to the police station. It stated in another paragraph, however,
that, since neither the Office of the Public Prosecutor nor the author or his
representative had brought charges during the proceedings and since no
evidence had been adduced in support of the complaint, the police officers
should be acquitted.
2.5 The author appealed against the judgement to the Provincial High Court
on 21 April 1998, requesting that the judgement should be set aside and that
the facts he had reported to the court on duty should be investigated as a
possible offence as defined in articles 173 to 177 of the Criminal Code
under the heading "Torture and other offences against the person". The
author argued that the investigation would have required the opening of
preliminary proceedings and the taking of statements from the alleged
perpetrators, the victim and the witnesses. He further argued that his alleged
offence should have been tried together with the facts stated in his