European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

FOURTH SECTION

 

 

 

CASE OF MALCHENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE

(Application no. 3001/06 and 6 others -

see appended list)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

6 April 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 




In the case of Malchenko and Others v. Ukraine,

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 Karen Reid, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 16 March 2017,

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

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in applications against Ukraine 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 Ukrainian Government (“the Government”).

THE FACTS

3.  The list of applicants 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. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the 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 principally 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, Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 96-101, ECHR 2016). It reiterates in particular that a serious lack of space in a prison cell weighs heavily as a factor to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the detention conditions described are “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see Muršić, cited above, §§ 122 -141, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149-159, 10 January 2012).

8.  In the leading case of Melnik v. Ukraine, no. 72286/01, 28 March 2006, 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 in respect of these complaints.

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

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

12.  Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, in accordance with the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its findings in Kharchenko v. Ukraine, no. 40107/02, 10 February 2011, Merit v. Ukraine, no. 66561/01, 30 March.

IV.  REMAINING COMPLAINTS

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

14.  The Court has 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 either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.

It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 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, 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, the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of applications nos. 3001/06, 59537/11 and 71757/11 inadmissible;

 

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

 

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

 

5.  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 6 April 2017, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

          Karen Reid                                                         Vincent A. De Gaetano
            Registrar                                                                      President

 




APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 and Article 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	Other complaints under well-established case-law	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]
1.	3001/06 05/12/2005	Vitaliy Dmitriyevich MALCHENKO 22/07/1952		Kharkiv SIZO no. 27 19/11/2002 to 12/02/2007 4 years, 2 months and 25 days	2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: lack or insufficient quantity of food, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities	Art. 5 (3) - excessive length of pre-trial detention	27,500
				Correction facility no. 12 12/02/2007 to 10/12/2013 6 years, 9 months and 29 days	2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: lack or insufficient quantity of food, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities
2.	40005/10 02/12/2010	Igor Valeryevich MIGAYEV 12/09/1969		Kharkiv SIZO no. 27 10/03/2010 to 27/03/2013 3 years and 18 days	2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: lack of fresh air, dim electric light 24/7, lack of beds for all inmates in the cell, sleeping in turns		6,800
3.	47703/10 08/08/2010	Gennadiy Sergeyevich STEPANOV 24/03/1973		Poltava SIZO 04/08/2006 to 14/05/2010 3 years, 9 months and 11 days   Poltava SIZO 16/07/2010 to 28/08/2010 1 month and 13 days   Poltava SIZO 25/11/2010 to 28/12/2010 1 month and 5 days   Poltava SIZO 09/11/2011 to 16/11/2011 8 days	2.5 m²	In respect of all periods: lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: daily walk for merely an hour, dim electric light 24/7, restricted access to shower	Art. 6 (1) - excessive length of criminal proceedings	11,100
4.	59537/11 12/09/2011	Sergiy Yosypovych PIDGAYNYY 29/05/1975		Ivano-Frankivsk SIZO no. 12 21/05/2011 to 19/01/2013 1 year, 7 months and 30 days	2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: not enough beds for all the inmates in the cell		4,200
5.	71757/11 08/11/2011	Andrey Stanislavovich KRYZHANOVSKIY 05/10/1973	Sergiy Volodymyrovych Zakharov Kyiv	Kyiv SIZO 30/12/2010 to 14/12/2013 2 years, 11 months and 15 days	1 m² - 2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: no food was provided on several occasions; not enough beds for all the inmates in the cell		6,600
6.	61852/13 28/07/2013	Osanna Grantovna LITVINA 29/06/1961	Valentin Ivanovich Atamanchuk Odessa	Odesa SIZO no. 21 17/01/2011 pending More than 6 years		Pest infestation, poor hygiene standards, lack of fresh air and ventilation	Art. 5 (3) - excessive length of pre-trial detention	15,400
7.	7073/14 23/12/2013	Vitaliy Anatolyevich KULAKOV 13/03/1954	Lyudmila Mikhaylovna Kichuzhinets Kyiv	Kyiv SIZO no. 13 16/10/2013 to 10/03/2014 4 months and 23 days	2.5 m²	lack of personal space aggravated by other factors: lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no hot water, dim electric light 24/7, lack of privacy for toilet		1,500

 

 




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