Anti-Terrorist Operations and the Right to Life
The ECtHR's case law on the fundamental right to life has begun to develop with its legal assessment of an anti-terrorist operation in Gibraltar. A more recent judgment in a whole series of cases concerns the Beslan hostage rescue. Both prohibitions and obligations for security force operations follow from that case law. In countering current terrorist threats, there can be a dilemma between the duty to rescue victims and the prohibition of killing perpetrators.
This work takes an in-depth look at the three aspects of the right to life under Article 2 ECHR: the positive, the negative and the procedural obligation. Based on this, it first examines the legal basis for police operations in general and for the use of potentially lethal means of restraint in particular. The distinction between a pre-operational, an operational and a post-operational phase allows existing obligations of states to
be properly classified. This shows that state obligations exist both far upstream and in the aftermath of actual operations.
The case law on the use of potentially lethal force now forms a close-knit standard for Council of Europe states. It is highly relevant to practice. The present work is intended to stimulate further legal contributions and discussions.
Interview with the authors
Reto Müller
Dr. iur., is a lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and a lecturer in security and police law at the University of Basel and in public law at the ETH Zurich. More about his publications and his person at
www.recht-sicherheit.ch
Stéphanie Greuter
Stéphanie Greuter, MLaw, is a police officer (sergeant major) in Basel.
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