European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

 

THIRD SECTION

 

 

 

CASE OF GASHIMOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 31408/14 and 10 others -

see appended list)

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

4 May 2017

 

 

 

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




In the case of Gashimov 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. 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 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.  In applications nos. 31408/14, 32432/14, 12927/15, 18035/15, 23890/15, 25301/15, 59787/15 and 59951/15, 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 Babushkin, 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	Representative name and location	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.	31408/14 04/04/2014	Ruslan Etibarovich Gashimov 14/07/1990	Sukhoyarskaya Tatyana Vasilyevna Moscow	IK-25 Kirov Region 31/01/2013 pending More than 4 year(s) and 2 month(s)	1.3 m²		Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	14,000
2.	32432/14 05/08/2014	Vladimir Petrovich Grebenshchikov 05/03/1961		IK-2 Zabaikalskiy Region 11/07/2007 pending More than 9 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 20 day(s)	190 inmate(s) 1.6-2.5 m²	not enough toilets, 7 sinks, no hot water, no ventilation, poor lighting, no partition between the toilet and the living space, tuberculosis and hepatitis-infected inmates in the cell	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	13,000
3.	12927/15 28/02/2015	Andrey Alekseyevich Katkov 08/11/1982		IK-2 Tomsk Region 13/01/2015 pending More than 2 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 18 day(s)	2 m²	no ventilation in cell, constant cigarette smoke, poor lighting with no access to natural light, poor sanitary conditions, squat toilet not separated from the living space and one metre away from the dining table, stench, no privacy when using toilet, poor quality of food, no hot water, outdoor exercise not every day, no radio or newspapers	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	8,800
4.	17262/15 24/03/2015	Dmitriy Gennadyevich Kovyazin 23/07/1972		IK-11 NIzhny Novgorod Region 21/05/2013 to 10/03/2015 1 year(s) and 9 month(s) and 18 day(s)	135 inmate(s) 2 m² 6 toilet(s)	6 sinks for 135 inmates, overcrowding, sanitary, poor quality of food, poor quality of uniform and footgear		5,000
5.	17957/15 02/04/2015	Aleksandr Nikolayevich Smirnov 22/08/1983	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-1 Kostroma Region 13/12/2012 to 12/02/2015 2 year(s) and 2 month(s)	160 inmate(s) 3 toilet(s)	3 sinks for 160 inmates, no flushing system, bedbugs and rats		5,000
6.	18035/15 28/03/2015	Aleksandr Yuryevich Chesnokov 16/03/1984		IK-2 Tyumen Region 14/05/2011 to 03/10/2014 3 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 20 day(s)	500 inmate(s) 2.1 m² 17 toilet(s)	6 sinks (2 of them for washing feet) for 110 inmates, mould on the ceiling and walls, insects and rodents, no ventilation, every working day obliged to spend 4 hours in a recreation room with no ventilation and 0.75 sq. m. per inmate, poor quality of food, lack of requisite medical assistance, low temperature in the dormitory in winter time, tuberculosis-infected inmates in the dormitory	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	5,000
7.	23523/15 05/04/2015	Sergey Vladimirovich Shcherbakov 02/08/1974		IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region 07/07/2008 pending More than 8 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 24 day(s)	135 inmate(s) 2 m² 6 toilet(s)	6 sinks for 135 inmates, poor quality of food, inadequate clothes and footgear		11,000
8.	23890/15 07/05/2015	Yakub Rafailovich Kaliyev 09/02/1966	Gordeyeva Margarita Vladimirovna Astrakhan	IK-2 Astrakhan 10/04/2009 to 19/12/2014 5 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 10 day(s)	165 inmate(s) 1.6 m² 4 toilet(s)	vermin, inadequate temperature in the dormitory, no individual sleeping place, no adequate clothing for seasons, poor quality of food, poor lighting, lack of drinking water and poor sanitary facilities, inadequate conditions for washing, lack of space for outdoor exercise, 3 sinks for 165 inmates	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	5,000
9.	25301/15 07/05/2015	Oleg Borisovich Lunev 02/02/1971	Gordeyeva Margarita Vladimirovna Astrakhan	IK-2 Astrakhan 12/11/2007 pending More than 9 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 19 day(s)	165 inmate(s) 1.9 m² 4 toilet(s)	4 sinks for 110-165 inmates, insects and rodents, inadequate temperature in the dormitory, no individual sleeping place, no adequate clothing for seasons, poor quality of food and drinking water, poor lighting, inadequate conditions for washing, lack of space for outdoor exercise, no privacy when using toilet	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	10,800
10.	59787/15 23/12/2013	Aleksey Mikhaylovich Zakharov 05/11/1973		IK-30 Perm Region 15/02/2012 to 01/12/2013 1 year(s) and 9 month(s) and 17 day(s)	130 inmate(s) 1.5 m² 8 toilet(s)	no ventilation, 6 sinks, no hot water, less than 5 minutes to wash himself weekly, poor quality of food	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	5,000
11.	59951/15 23/12/2013	Vitaliy Borisovich Tlunev 08/01/1966		IK-30 Perm Region 26/11/2011 to 13/11/2013 1 year(s) and 11 month(s) and 19 day(s)	130 inmate(s) 1.5 m² 8 toilet(s)	6 sinks, no ventilation, no hot water, less than 5 minutes to wash himself weekly, poor quality of food	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -	5,000

 

 




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