Victim status under LAVI requires direct targeting

ATA/266/1995Cour de justice / Chambre administrative23 mai 1995Dismissed

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Résumé Omnilex

The Tribunal administratif denied the appellant victim status under Art. 2(1) LAVI. Although she experienced psychological harm after witnessing a knife attack on another woman while sitting in her car, she was not directly targeted by the offence. The court held that LAVI requires a qualified causal link to the criminal act, which is absent when the person affected is only a bystander or indirect witness. The appeal was dismissed.

Regeste Omnilex

Art. 2 al. 1 LAVI; notion of victim; qualified causal link to the offence. Victim status presupposes that the person is directly affected in his or her bodily, sexual or psychological integrity by the offence. Psychological impairment caused merely by witnessing an attack on a third person does not suffice where the applicant was not herself the object of the offence. The causal connection required by the LAVI is not established by indirect, consequential harm alone; direct targeting by the criminal act is necessary (consid. unspecified).

Texte intégral

Descripteurs

AIDE AUX VICTIMES; INDEMNITE(EN GENERAL); VICTIME; NOTION

Normes

LAVI.2 al.1

Résumé

Le Tribunal administratif a nié la qualité de victime au sens de l'article 2 alinéa 1 LAVI à la recourante qui avait assisté, alors qu'elle était arrêtée au volant de sa voiture, à l'agression au couteau d'une femme assise sur la place du passager. La recourante avait bien subi une atteinte à son intégrité psychique qui était la conséquence de l'agression. Toutefois, faute d'avoir été directement visée par l'agression, elle n'était pas dans la relation de causalité qualifiée avec l'infraction, exigée par la LAVI.

Mots-clés

victim supportpsychological harmdirect victimcausal linkwitnessassault

Extrait par Omnilex

Questions juridiques clés extraites par Omnilex

Question juridique clé

Whether the appellant qualifies as a victim under Art. 2(1) LAVI after witnessing the knife attack and suffering psychological harm.

Solution extraite

She does not qualify as a victim because, although she suffered psychological harm, she was not directly targeted by the assault and therefore lacked the qualified causal link required by LAVI.

Motifs extraits

Victim status under Art. 2(1) LAVI requires direct involvement as the object of the offence. A merely consequential psychological injury caused by witnessing the attack is insufficient without direct targeting.

Victim status under LAVI requires direct targetingGénéré par IA