European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

THIRD SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASE OF KAPUSTIN AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

 

(Applications nos. 58889/10 and 10 others -

see list appended)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

4 May 2017

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 




In the case of Kapustin and Others v. Russia,

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

          Luis López Guerra, President,
          Dmitry Dedov,
          Branko Lubarda, judges,
and Karen Reid, Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 30 March 2017,

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

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in applications against Russia 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 Russian 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. The 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 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 Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, no. 5993/08, 28 November 2013, 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.  These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.

III.  REMAINING COMPLAINTS

11.  The 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 Sergey Babuskin, cited above, §§ 38-45.

IV.  APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

12.  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.”

13.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession, to its case-law and the long delay for some of the applicants in filing the application, the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

14.  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 applications admissible;

 

3.  Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 3 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 4 May 2017, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

     Karen Reid                                                                    Luis López Guerra

       Registrar                                                                              President

 




APPENDIX

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	Facility Start and end date Duration	Number of inmates per brigade Sq. m. per inmate Number of toilets per brigade	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.	58889/10 15/09/2010	Sergey Ivanovich Kapustin 09/11/1958	Prison hospital no. LIU-2 Keramik Udmurt Republic 15/06/2006 to 22/06/2013 7 year(s) and 8 day(s)	1.6 m²	58 sq.m./36 inmates/1.6 sq.m. per inmate, more than 137 inmates in a brigade, one TV set for a brigade, one toilet for three brigades (400 inmates), overcrowding, no hot water, poor quality of drinking water and food, no ventilation, inmates infected with tuberculosis, dim electric light, infestation with cockroaches and mice, small walking yard.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	13,500
2.	70075/10 03/11/2010	Oleg Valentinovich Denisenko 23/06/1967	Prison hospital No. LIU-8 Neftekumsk Stavropol Region 03/03/2007 to 30/01/2013 5 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 28 day(s)	1.5 m²	Overcrowding, toilet and sink in outhouse, poor food quality, inadequate bedding, no fresh air or ventilation, dim electric light.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	11,800
3.	51746/11 07/07/2011	Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Khoteyev 01/01/1977	IK-7 Vladimir Region 23/03/2008 to 22/05/2011 3 year(s) and 2 month(s)                 IK-3 Vladimir Region 22/05/2011 to 09/01/2013 1 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 19 day(s)	1.7 m²	Sleeping premises of 150 sq. m. / 50-110 sleeping places / 30-100 inmates /6 toilets/4 sinks, not provided with an individual sleeping place, inadequate separation of toilet, weekly shower for 4 hours (approximately 15 minutes per inmate), attended simultaneously by 270 inmates, insufficient number of shower heads (20 shower heads for 270 inmates), torn and dirty bed linen, poor food quality, lack of sitting places (1 chair for 2 inmates), walking yard of 300 sq. m. for 200 inmates, 19.2 or 150 sq. m. / 8-100 sleeping places / 6-96 inmates/3 toilets. Waking yard of 375 sq. m. for 150 inmates, i.e.1.5 sq. m. per inmate. Walks for 15 minutes every hour and 2.30 hours in the evening daily, inadequate separation of toilet, weekly shower for 15-20 minutes, insufficient number of shower heads (15 shower heads for 30 inmates).	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	9,800
4.	75357/11 08/11/2011	Yevgeniy Anatolyevich Frolov 17/04/1979	IK-4 Vyazniki Vladimir Region 27/08/2010 to 11/05/2011 8 month(s) and 15 day(s)   IK-4 Vyazniki Vladimir Region 15/07/2011 pending More than 5 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 16 day(s)	n/a m²           n/a m²	No ventilation, no individual sleeping place - the applicant was sleeping on the floor, no walks.       No ventilation, no individual sleeping place - the applicant is sleeping on the floor, no walks.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	21,300
5.	11516/12 09/02/2012	Viktor Nikolayevich Kostousov 02/06/1966	IK-3 Krasnoturyinsk Sverdlovsk Region 21/10/2011 to 28/10/2015 4 year(s) and 8 day(s)		37 inmates in living premises/30 sq. m./0.8 sq. m. per inmate, two lavatory pans without flushing system for 110 inmates, two sinks for 110 inmates, poor food quality, unsanitary conditions in canteen, infestation with bedbugs, cockroaches and rats.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	14,300
6.	13625/12 15/04/2011	Yuriy Kuzmich Tumkin 30/12/1963	IK-11 Bor Nizhniy Novgorod Region 21/12/2009 to 01/04/2014 4 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 12 day(s)	205 inmate(s) 1.4 m² 6 toilet(s)	lack of fresh air, infestation with mice, bedbugs, spiders and cockroaches, no writing table, no separate premises for eating - the applicant has to eat sitting on his sleeping place, 6 sinks, lack of running water in the evening, inadequate functioning of toilet flushing system allowed unpleasant smell to spread, inmates infected with hepatitis and HIV, no disinfection or sanitary measures taken, small walking yard with the air heavy with cigarette smoke, poor food quality, shower once a week for 15 minutes, no separation between shower units, one shower head for four inmates, the shower walls covered with slime, poor condition of sleeping places, walls covered with black slime, cold living premises	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	14,000
7.	16579/12 30/01/2012	Vitaliy Petrovich Petrov 15/07/1953	IK-6 Sosnoviy Bor Pskov Region 18/02/2010 to 28/04/2012 2 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 11 day(s)		120 sq. m./145 inmates/0.8 per inmate/5-7 lavatory pans and sinks, no running water during summer of 2010, no hot water, lack of seasonal clothing, lack of ventilation, unsanitary conditions.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	5,800
8.	51488/14 04/07/2014	Samat Nurbulatovich Suyugaliyev 15/06/1980	IK-30 Kungur Perm Region 28/12/2011 to 21/04/2014 2 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 25 day(s)	130 inmate(s) 1.5 m² 8 toilet(s)	lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, poor quality of food, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	5,000
9.	28479/15 08/09/2015	Vladimir Ivanovich Glazkov 21/08/1978	IK-2 Shara-Gorokhon Zabaykalsk Region 20/02/2010 to 15/09/2015 5 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 27 day(s)	2.1 m²	lack of fresh air, passive smoking, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, no or restricted access to warm water, mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of privacy for toilet, lack or insufficient quantity of food	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	5,300
10.	37184/15 03/09/2015	Vladimir Dmitriyevich Pchelkin 25/12/1988	IK-46 Nevyansk 15/07/2012 pending More than 4 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 16 day(s)	140 inmate(s) 1 m² 3 toilet(s)	lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, inadequate temperature, insufficient number of sleeping places, walking yard of 12 sq.m., a disposal dump about 2m. away from the dormitory	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	9,800
11.	43036/15 22/07/2015	Radmil Nigmatullovich Badritdinov 17/03/1978	IK-5 Lepley Republic of Mordovia 28/05/2014 pending More than 2 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 3 day(s)	0.9 m²	Living premises: 140 inmates/less than 1 sq. m. per inmate/10 sinks with only 7-8 functioning/one outdoor toilet, overcrowding, lack of natural light, no ventilation, no hot water, lack of heating in winter, toilet located in a 30 meters’ distance from the living premises, toilet without lavatory pans and flushing system, infestation with mice, rats, cockroaches, spiders. Poor condition of bedding. Poor food quality. Canteen: Two sinks, no hot water, infestation with mice, rats, walls covered with black mould, tableware of general use. Sewing premises: No ventilation, the air filled with dust, ruinous state of the building, walls in cracks.	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	10,300

 




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