The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Moldova guilty of violating the right to life in a case that involved a death following police contact, and ordered the Moldovan Government to pay the applicants 115,000 euros in damages and court expenses, Info-Prim Neo reports. The applicants' counselor Andrei Bivol noted that this is the first time that the ECHR has found the State directly responsible for the death of a person. The family of Leonid Ghimp complained at the ECHR that he died in December 2005 after he had been beaten at the Ciocana Police Commissariat. The suspected police officers were acquitted by the domestic courts. Leonid Ghimp, 35, left behind two children. Leonid Ghimp was driven to the police station on 10 December 2005 after a dispute with a taxi driver. There, as he later told his wife, he was severely beaten by three police officers. A couple of days later Leonid Ghimp died in hospital. An autopsy showed that he died from a serious blow to the stomach which perforated his small intestine. According to the accused police officers, Leonid Ghimp was not beaten up at the police station and was told that he was free to go shortly after being brought in. However, being severely intoxicated, he refused to leave and preferred to sleep on the floor until the next morning. Initially the officers were sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment each. A subsequent appeal reduced their sentences and another one obtained their complete acquittal. This prompted Leonid Ghimp's family to seek justice at the ECHR. The applicants complained that Leonid Ghimp had been killed by the police and that the domestic authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into his death. The ECHR found that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation of the circumstances surrounding Leonid Ghimp’s death. In addition, it found that there is sufficient evidence from which it may be concluded beyond reasonable doubt that Leonid Ghimp died as a result of injuries inflicted while he was in the hands of the police.