5.  The applicants, who are police officers, were born in 1967, 1978, 1976, 1979 and 1964 respectively. The first and second applicants live in Chișinău and Caușeni and the remaining applicants live in Bender.
6.  On 14 June 2006 officers Mangîr, Vasiliev and Condrea, who were conducting a criminal investigation in Tiraspol, were arrested by the secret service of the self-proclaimed “Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria” (“MRT”)[1]. During their arrest they managed to call the Bender police station.
7.  The other two applicants (officers Daţco and Pohila) went to Tiraspol to clarify the reasons for the arrest of their colleagues, but were also arrested upon their arrival.
8.  The applicants were placed in the Tiraspol Remand Centre (IVS Tiraspol).
9.  On 17 June 2006 officers Pohila, Daţco and Vasiliev were released without charge and without any explanation for their arrest.
10.  On 18 June 2006 officer Mangîr was allegedly beaten up and injected with an unknown substance, which rendered him unconscious for four days. After his release he was admitted for in-patient treatment in the hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, where he was diagnosedwith, inter alia, concussion.
11.  On 20 June 2006 the Tiraspol City Court issued a warrant for officer Mangîr to be detained for thirty days. On 23 June 2006 the “MRT” authorities released officers Mangîr and Condrea. The head of the “MRT” secret service declared in an interview that the officers had been released after Russian authorities had “given assurances” that Moldovan authorities would not “kidnap people” in the “MRT”.
12.  The applicants were accused in the “MRT” media of being members of “black squadrons” created for the purpose of kidnapping politicians and other persons causing nuisance to the Moldovan authorities. According to the applicants, during their detention they were questioned by the “MRT” secret service and forced to declare that in Tiraspol they had been trying to kidnap “MRT” politicians. Officers Pohila, Daţco and Vasiliev were allegedly beaten on the soles of their feet and threatened with the killing of members of their families, as well as with being transferred to cells occupied by common criminals, where they would be ill-treated or even killed.
13.  Officer Condrea was allegedly subjected to so-called “Palestinian hanging” for up to seven hours and was taken to his cell unconscious thereafter.
14.  The applicants described as follows their conditions of detention at the Tiraspol Remand Centre. The cells in which they had been held had been in the basement and had not had access to natural light. In the absence of ventilation and because of overcrowding it had been difficult to breathe. Officer Condrea submits that he was detained in the same cell as that in which Mr Ilie Ilaşcu had been detained (for more details see Ilaşcu and Others v. Moldova and Russia [GC], no. 48787/99, ECHR 2004‑VII).
15.  During their detention the applicants did not have any daily exercise and were not given access to a shower; they could not receive parcels containing food from their relatives, they did not have bed linen and they were not allowed to be seen by doctors.
16.  After the applicants’ release the Moldovan authorities initiated two sets of criminal proceedings concerning their unlawful detention and their alleged ill-treatment while in detention. However, several years later the investigation was discontinued.
17.  The applicants were also subjected to medical check-ups, which found no traces of violence on their bodies. Only one applicant, Stefan Mangîr, was found to be suffering from the consequences of concussion.