European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

THIRD SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASE OF ROŞIU AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA

 

(Applications nos. 56276/10, 8045/13, 39307/13, 46005/13, 62014/13, 69007/13, 77819/13, 80145/13, 1663/14, 1670/14, 11291/14 and 15036/14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

22 October 2015

 

 

 

 

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.




In the case of Roşiu and Others v. Romania,

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

          Valeriu Griţco, President,
          Branko Lubarda,
          Mārtiņš Mits, judges

and Hasan Bakırcı, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 1 October 2015,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in applications against Romania lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.

2.  The applications were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”).

THE FACTS

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

3.  The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.

4.  The applicants complained of inadequate conditions of detention. In some of the applications, the applicants also raised complaints under other provisions of the Convention.

THE LAW

I.  JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS

5.  Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.

II.  ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION

6.  The applicants complained principally of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They relied on Article 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:

Article 3

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

7.  The Court notes that the applicants were kept in detention in poor conditions. The details of the applicants’ detention are indicated in the appended table. The Court refers to the principles established in its case-law regarding inadequate conditions of detention (see, for instance, Kudła v. Poland [GC], no. 30210/96, §§ 90-94, ECHR 2000-XI, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 139-165, 10 January 2012). It reiterates in particular that extreme lack of space in a prison cell or overcrowding weighs heavily as an aspect to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the impugned detention conditions were “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see, amongst many authorities, Karalevičius v. Lithuania, no. 53254/99, §§ 36-40, 7 April 2005).

8.  In the leading case of Iacov Stanciu v. Romania (no. 35972/05, §§ 116-129, 24 July 2012), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

9.  Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the applicants’ conditions of detention were inadequate (see appended table for details).

10.  These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.

11.  In applications nos. 56276/10, 8045/13, 39307/13, 46005/13, 69007/13, 80145/13, 1663/14, 1670/14, 11291/14, and 15036/14 the applicants also complained of other aspects concerning material conditions of detention or transport. In the light of its findings above, the Court does not consider it necessary to examine these remaining aspects (see Epistatu v. Romania, no. 29343/10, § 55, 24 September 2013; Bahnă v. Romania, no. 75985/12, § 53, 13 November 2014; and Bujorean v. Romania, no. 13054/12, § 32, 10 June 2014).

III.  OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS RAISED UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW

12.  The applicant in case no. 8045/13 also submitted a complaint under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention on the basis of well-established Convention case-law (see appended table). This complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention nor is it inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, it must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that it also discloses a violation of the Convention in the light of its findings in Vlad and Others v. Romania (nos. 40756/06, 41508/07 and 50806/07, §§ 131-133 and 161, 26 November 2013).

IV.  REMAINING COMPLAINTS

13.  Some applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.

14.  The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the appended table and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention or its Protocols thereto.

It follows that this part of the applications is manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

V.  APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

15.  Article 41 of the Convention provides:

“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”

16.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case-law (Iacov Stanciu, cited above, §§ 201-203), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

17.  The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

1.  Decides to join the applications;

 

2.  Declares the complaints concerning the inadequate conditions of detention and the other complaints raised under the well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of the applications inadmissible;

 

3.  Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention;

 

4.  Holds that there is no need to examine the remaining issues raised under Article 3 of the Convention in applications nos. 56276/10, 8045/13, 39307/13, 46005/13, 69007/13, 80145/13, 1663/14, 1670/14, 11291/14, and 15036/14 in respect of the material conditions of detention and in application no. 80145/13 in respect of the material conditions of transport;

 

5.  Holds that there has been a violation as regards the other complaints raised under the well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table);

 

6.  Holds

(a)  that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement.

(b)  that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the amount indicated in the appended table at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 22 October 2015, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Hasan Bakırcı                                                               Valeriu Griţco
Acting Deputy Registrar                                                            President




List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention)

 

No.	Application no. Date of introduction	Applicant name Date of birth	Representative name and location	Facility Start and end date Duration	Sq. m. per inmate	Specific grievances	Other complaints under well-established case-law	Amount awarded for non-pecuniary damage per applicant (in euros)[1]	Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application (in euros)[2]
1.	56276/10 13/09/2010	Vasile Augustin ROŞIU 23/07/1974		Colibaşi Penitentiary 05/11/2007 to 05/05/2011 3 year(s) and 7 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 25/07/2011 to 08/12/2011 0 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 22/03/2012 to 29/03/2012 0 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 02/07/2012 to 09/07/2012 0 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 13/09/2012 to 20/09/2012 0 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 10/01/2013 to 25/03/2013 0 year(s) and 3 month(s)   Colibaşi Penitentiary 03/06/2013 pending 2 year(s) and 3 month(s)	1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²             1.64 - 3.19 m²	Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.             Overcrowding.		13,400
2.	8045/13 09/01/2013	Ionel MANȚOG 15/02/1956	Chiriţă Radu Cluj Napoca	Târgu-Jiu Penitentiary 01/08/2012 pending 3 year(s) and 1 month(s)	1.42 - 2.88 m²	Overcrowding.	Art. 6 (1) - Excessive length of criminal proceedings	8,800	1,500
3.	39307/13 11/06/2013	Ovidiu ŢENESCU 20/11/1967		Giurgiu Penitentiary 14/12/2012 to 31/05/2015 2 year(s) and 6 month(s)	3.35 m²	Overcrowding, poor conditions of hygiene.		5,700
4.	46005/13 15/07/2013	Gheorghe NOVAC 13/07/1967		Jilava Penitentiary 10/10/2012 pending 2 year(s) and 11 month(s)	1.1 - 1.76 m²	Overcrowding, poor conditions of hygiene.		6,500
5.	62014/13 27/09/2013	Marius Cezar ŞUŢĂ 19/08/1974		Jilava Penitentiary 20/04/2012 to 10/05/2013 1 year(s) and 1 month(s)	1.05 - 1.30 m²	Overcrowding, poor conditions of hygiene.		3,200
6.	69007/13 18/10/2013	Cezar Andrei BĂLĂCIAN 16/10/1984		Botoşani Penitentiary 16/06/2012 to 16/04/2014 1 year(s) and 11 month(s)	2.36 m²	Overcrowding, poor conditions of hygiene.		4,700
7.	77819/13 02/12/2013	Mihai- Ciprian POTÎRCĂ 12/06/1975		Iaşi Penitentiary 23/12/2011 to 07/08/2012 0 year(s) and 8 month(s)     Iaşi Penitentiary 16/10/2012 to 15/10/2013 1 year(s)	1.28 m²             1.28 m²	Overcrowding, worn-out mattresses, cells infested with bedbugs and rats, inadequate toilet facilities, lack of adequate lighting.   Overcrowding, worn-out mattresses, cells infested with bedbugs and rats, inadequate toilet facilities, lack of adequate lighting.		4,200
8.	80145/13 04/12/2013	Nicolae Cătălin ȘERBAN 11/04/1976	Andrei Paul Timişoara	Aiud Penitentiary 19/04/2012 15/02/2013 0 years and 10 months   Bucharest-Rahova Penitentiary 19/04/2012 to 14/08/2013 1 year(s) and 4 month(s)	n/a           2.1 - 3 m²	Humidity in the cell, lack of adequate heating during winter.       Overcrowding, poor conditions of hygiene, limited access to warm water.		3,600
9.	1663/14 27/12/2013	Sidef ZĂRNESCU 10/07/1973		Ploieşti Penitentiary 28/11/2012 pending 2 year(s) and 9 month(s)	1.24 m²	Overcrowding, insufficient toilet facilities for the number of detainees in the cell, lack of adequate space to store food, goods and to serve meals.		6,200
10.	1670/14 27/12/2013	Mădălin Corneliu IONESCU 26/10/1975		Ploieşti Penitentiary 17/05/2013 pending 2 year(s) and 3 month(s)	1.24 m²	Overcrowding, insufficient toilet facilities for the number of detainees in the cell, lack of adequate space to store food, goods and to serve meals.		5,300
11.	11291/14 21/03/2014	Mihai Klepper DUŢĂ 16/11/1967	Peter Irina Maria Bucharest	Jilava Penitentiary 15/04/2013 pending 2 year(s) and 4 month(s)	1.05 - 2.25 m²	Overcrowding, poor quality of food, cells infested with bedbugs.		5,400	800 to be paid directly to the applicant’s representative, Ms Peter Irina Maria
12.	15036/14 12/03/2014	Laurenţiu VIERU 14/12/1974		Poarta Albă Penitentiary 21/03/2013 pending 2 year(s) and 5 month(s)	1.41 - 3.91 m²	Overcrowding (the applicant had 3.91 m² of individual space for one week between 07/04/2014 and 15/04/2014).		5,600

 




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[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.

[2] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.