European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

 

FOURTH SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

CASE OF MAGYAR AND OTHERS v. HUNGARY

 

(Application no. 16599/12 and 10 other applications -

see appended list)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

7 January 2016

 

 

 

This judgment is final. It may be subject to editorial revision.




In the case of Magyar and Others v. Hungary,

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

     Vincent A. De Gaetano, President,
     Egidijus Kūris,
     Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 3 December 2015,

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

PROCEDURE

1.  The cases originated in applications against Hungary 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 Hungarian Government (“the Government”).

THE FACTS

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

4.  The applicants complained of the inadequate conditions of their detention and of the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law. In application nos. 69916/12 and 73694/12, 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 ARTICLES 3 AND 13 OF THE CONVENTION

6.  The applicants complained of the inadequate conditions of their detention and that they had no effective remedy in this connection. They relied on Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention, which read as follows:

Article 3

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

Article 13

“Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in this Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority...”

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 Varga and Others v. Hungary (nos. 14097/12, 45135/12, 73712/12, 34001/13, 44055/13, and 64586/13, 10 March 2015), 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.

10.  The Court further notes that the applicants did not have at their disposal an effective remedy by which to submit their complaints concerning their conditions of detention.

11.  These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention.

III.  REMAINING COMPLAINTS

12.  In application nos. 69916/12 and 73694/12, the applicants also raised complaints under other Articles of the Convention.

13.  The Court has examined the complaints 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 the Protocols thereto.

14.  It follows that these parts of the applications are manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

VI.  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 (see, in particular, Varga and Others v. Hungary, nos. 14097/12, 45135/12, 73712/12, 34001/13, 44055/13, and 64586/13, §§ 118-124, 10 March 2015), 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 lack of any effective remedy in domestic law admissible and the remainder of application nos. 69916/12 and 73694/12 inadmissible;

 

3.  Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention and the lack of any effective remedy;

 

4.  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 above amounts 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 7 January 2016, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

   Hasan Bakırcı                                                              Vincent A. De Gaetano
Acting Deputy Registrar                                                            President




APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention and lack of any effective remedy in domestic law)

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	Amount awarded for non-pecuniary damage per applicant (in euros)[i]	Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application (in euros)[ii]
1.	16599/12 20/02/2012	Zoltan MAGYAR 03/06/1961	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Budapest Correctional Facility, Block III. ("Maglódi/Venyige") 02/06/2008 to 10/03/2010 1 year(s) and 10 month(s)   Budapest Prison, Block "A" 11/03/2010 to 02/04/2011 1 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Budapest Prison, Block "B" 03/04/2011 to 31/05/2012 1 year(s) and 2 month(s)   Budapest Prison, Block "A" 01/06/2012 to 07/12/2014 2 year(s) and 7 month(s)	3.5 m²         3.3 m²       3.1 m²       3.3 m²	shower only once a week, lack of fresh air       shower only once a week, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell   infestation of the cell with insects     toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	22,000	300
2.	29759/12 09/05/2012	Tibor SZABÓ 24/08/1962	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Székesfehérvár Prison 03/07/2009 to 01/05/2010 0 year(s) and 10 month(s)   Pálhalma Prison, Sándorháza Block 01/05/2010 to 01/03/2011 0 year(s) and 11 month(s)   Budapest Prison 01/03/2011 to 01/04/2012 1 year(s) and 2 month(s)   Szeged Prison 01/06/2012 to 01/10/2012 0 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Vác Prison 01/10/2012 to 06/03/2013 0 year(s) and 6 month(s)   Balassagyarmat Prison 01/07/2014 to 01/08/2014 0 year(s) and 2 month(s)   Szeged Prison 01/08/2014 pending 1 year(s) and 4 month(s)	1.5 m²       1.6 m²         2.5 m²       2.4 m²       2.25 m²       2.2 m²       2 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell                     toilet not separated from the rest of the cell     toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	18,000	300
3.	34757/12 30/05/2012	Csaba KRISTÓF 03/02/1974	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Budapest Prison 05/05/2008 to 12/09/2012 4 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Budapest Prison 20/09/2012 pending 3 year(s) and 2 month(s)	3 m²         3.4 m²	no proper separation of toilet, shower only once a week	24,800	300
4.	45132/12 10/07/2012	László VITÁNYI 03/10/1957	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Country Prison and Állampuszta Prison 07/11/2008 to 07/04/2010 1 year(s) and 6 month(s)   Tiszalök Prison 07/04/2010 to 07/06/2011 1 year(s) and 3 month(s)   Budapest Prison 07/06/2011 to 02/10/2012 1 year(s) and 4 month(s)	1 m²           3 m²       2.7 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	14,300	300
5.	45141/12 10/07/2012	Ferenc KISS 06/10/1972	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Prison, Pálhalma Prison and Hajdú-Bihar County Prison 09/01/2011 to 01/06/2011 0 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Pálhalma Prison and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Prison 01/06/2011 to 14/12/2011 0 year(s) and 7 month(s)   Budapest Prison 14/02/2012 to 17/10/2012 0 year(s) and 9 month(s)	1.8 m²           1.5 m²         2 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects     infestation of the cell with insects       toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects	7,300	300
6.	69916/12 24/10/2012	Zsolt HAJNAL 12/09/1979		Budapest Correctional Facility 13/06/2011 to 30/01/2012 0 year(s) and 8 month(s)   Vác Prison 30/01/2012 to 11/02/2013 1 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Budapest Prison 11/02/2013 to 31/01/2015 2 year(s)	2.4 m²       2.2 m²       2.5 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell     toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	13,300
7.	73694/12 13/11/2012	Mátyás HORVÁTH 09/03/1971	Karsai Dániel András Budapest	Budapest Correctional Facility, Block III. ("Maglódi/Venyige") 15/11/2011 to 18/05/2012 0 year(s) and 7 month(s)	3.75 m²		5,000	300
8.	46646/13 16/07/2013	Gábor KIS 10/02/1979	Magyar Gábor Budapest	Szeged Prison 11/01/2012 to 31/05/2013 1 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Szeged Prison 12/06/2013 to 22/11/2013 0 year(s) and 6 month(s)	2.5 m²         3.1 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, only cold water in cell   only cold water in cell, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	7,800	300
9.	56700/13 28/08/2013	Zoltán ALBERT 12/06/1984	Magyar Gábor Budapest	Márianosztra Prison 12/06/2005 to 01/06/2007 2 year(s)   Sátoraljaújhely Prison 01/06/2007 to 03/10/2008 1 year(s) and 5 month(s)   Budapest Prison 03/10/2008 to 01/05/2010 1 year(s) and 7 month(s)   Balassagyarmat Prison 14/10/2010 to 01/11/2010 0 year(s) and 1 month(s)     Szeged Prison 01/11/2010 to 01/11/2011 1 year(s) and 1 month(s)   Budapest Prison 02/05/2012 to 28/01/2013 0 year(s) and 9 month(s)     Vác Prison 28/01/2013 to 05/04/2013 0 year(s) and 3 month(s)   Márianosztra Prison 05/04/2013 to 06/01/2014 0 year(s) and 10 month(s)	2.4 m²       3 m²       3 m²       2.5 m²         3.6 m²       2.5 m²         2.6 m²       2 m²	toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects   infestation of the cell with insects     shower only once a week, infestation of the cell with insects   shower only once a week, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects   infestation of the cell with insects     shower only once a week, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects   shower only once a week, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects toilet not separated from the rest of the cell, infestation of the cell with insects	26,000	300
10.	57386/13 06/09/2013	László JUHÁSZ 02/04/1970		Baracska Prison 12/11/2012 to 11/07/2013 0 year(s) and 8 month(s)	2 m²	only cold water in cell	5,000
11.	58862/13 10/09/2013	András MÓGOR 18/06/1988	Turán Tünde Budapest	Budapest Prison 24/10/2012 to 10/06/2015 2 year(s) and 8 month(s)	3.2 m²	shower only once a week, toilet not separated from the rest of the cell	10,000	300

 

 

 

 

 

 




---

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

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