Ratio Decidendi
Article 2 ECHR imposes a positive obligation on the state to take preventive operational measures to protect an individual whose life is at risk from the criminal acts of another, where the authorities knew or ought to have known of the risk.
حقائق
A teacher developed an obsessive attachment to a pupil. Despite warnings to police, the teacher shot and killed the pupil's father and injured the pupil.
فیصلے کا خلاصہ
The ECtHR held that Article 2 could impose a positive duty to protect life, but on the facts the authorities had not failed in that duty. The 'Osman test' requires knowledge of a real and immediate risk to life.
اہم اقتباسات
"It must be established that the authorities knew or ought to have known at the time of the existence of a real and immediate risk to the life of an identified individual."
— The Court
بعد کا علاج
The Osman test is routinely applied in positive obligation cases under Article 2.