4. The applicant was born in 1938 and lives in Mykolayiv.
5. The applicant’s son, A.G., was born in 1966. Among other health conditions, he suffered from tuberculosis, Aids and drug addiction. He also had an infected phlegmon (inflammation) on his right shin.
6.  On 4 May 2007 A.G. was arrested on suspicion of drug-related crimes and placed in a temporary detention centre (“the ITT”) belonging to the Mykolayiv police.
7.  On 7 May 2007 the Tsentralnyy District Court of Mykolayiv ordered A.G.’s pre-trial detention.
8.  During his detention in the ITT, he was attended by the ambulance doctors who provided him with requisite medical treatment. On 19 May 2007 he was transferred to the surgical ward of the local hospital where he was treated for his phlegmon. Following the treatment the doctors considered that he could be held in detention facilities. The applicant was returned to the ITT.
9.  According to the results of the domestic investigations, at about 9.30 p.m. on 23 May 2007 an ITT officer heard moaning coming from the cell where A.G. was detained. At that time, A.G. was alone. The officer checked the cell and saw him with his mouth open, breathing heavily and repeating that he felt bad and needed air. ITT officers removed him from the cell and took him to the entrance area to get some fresh air, where they carried out first aid. An ambulance arrived at 9.43 p.m. and confirmed that A.G. was dead.
10.  According to the post-mortem examination report, A.G. died from ischaemic heart disease, which had been aggravated by acute heart failure. Linear strangulation bruises were found on his neck, which indicated interrupted asphyxiation. According to the report, asphyxiation had been attempted ten minutes before death, and could have aggravated A.G.’s chronic illnesses.
11.  On more than fifteen occasions between 2007 and 2012 the investigators at the local prosecutor’s office, having conducted pre‑investigation inquiries, refused to initiate criminal proceedings in connection with the death of the applicant’s son. Their decisions were quashed as unsubstantiated by supervising prosecutors and the courts, and further pre-investigation inquiries were ordered.
12.  On 14 December 2012 the authorities initiated criminal proceedings, in accordance with the 2012 Code of Criminal Procedure.
13.  On 27 March 2013 an investigator at the prosecutor’s office of the Zavodskyy District of Mykolayiv terminated the criminal proceedings, finding no elements of a crime on the part of the ITT officers in question.
14.  On 24 July 2013 the Zavodskyy District Court of Mykolayiv quashed the decision of 27 March 2013 as unfounded, noting that the investigator had failed to take the necessary measures in the case.
15.  On 3 October 2013 the investigator terminated the criminal proceedings, concluding that there was no evidence to suggest that the ITT staff had caused the death of the applicant’s son. He admitted that certain pieces of evidence could not be obtained. In particular, bed linen and a rope fashioned from bed linen, which had been found in the cell, could not be examined any further, as they had been destroyed after the post-mortem examination. For the same reasons, it was not possible to carry out a reconstruction of the events. He further noted that on 24 May 2007 a site inspection had been carried out, but no video-recordings or sketches of the scene had been made, and no photographs had been taken.
16.  Relying on the available evidence, the investigator found that, shortly before his death, the applicant’s son had unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by asphyxiating himself with a rope which he had produced from the bed linen. According to the latest medical findings, his death had been caused by interrupted mechanical asphyxiation; the visible injuries on his neck suggested that heart failure had resulted from the attempted strangulation.
17.  As regards the applicant’s son’s condition during his detention, the available medical evidence suggested that A.G. had not had any acute condition necessitating his admission to hospital during his detention in the ITT; on the other hand, he had been medically supervised within the ITT. Furthermore, his serious illnesses, such as the tuberculosis and HIV, suggested that his physical condition would have gradually deteriorated in any event. Having examined the case, the investigator concluded that the ITT officers could not have envisaged the fatal developments. He added that the applicant’s son had been provided with appropriate nutrition and had not refused food.