On 23 of March  2013, the Court of Human Rights condemned Lithuania because of a violation of the human rights of a domestic violence victim (VALIULIENĖ v. LITHUANIA, in force sine 26 June 2013).

     The Court qualified the violence perpetrated against the applicant as a violation of art.3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The respondent State has left without an effective protection the victims of domestic violence which in terms of consequences amounts to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.
     The applicant has been subjected many times to beating-up, strangling, hitting in the face, and kicking by her partner. She has also been threatened on several occasions, including through her e-mail.
     Despite her complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office and the submitted evidence, the investigation did not result into initiating penal proceedings because Lithanian as well as Bulgarian legislation does not provide for a public criminal procedure to be initiated in order to have the rights and interests of domestic violence victims protected.
    The applicant initiates a private criminal case but still does not obtain any protection.
   The Court’s message is clear: domestic violence is to be treated as a serious human rights violation and to be punished adequately because it affects not only the victim but also the victim’s family as well as the society as a whole.

         The judgment could be found here