Facts: 15 children and young adults died over a six-month period in a home for physically and mentally disabled young people, from the effects of cold and shortages of food, medicine and other basics. The manager of the home had repeatedly sought assistance from the authorities but without success.

Judgment: the European Court of Human Rights held that the authorities should have known of the real risk to the lives of the residents and had failed to take reasonable preventative steps: they were in breach of Article 2 ECHR by failing to prevent the deaths and, also, by failing to undertake an effective investigation into the causes of the deaths.