European Court of Human Rights

 

 

 

THIRD SECTION

 

 

 

 

CASE OF DUDNIKOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Application no. 63928/13 and 7 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 Dudnikov 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 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 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.  APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

11.  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.”

12.  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.

13.  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

(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.

     Keren 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	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]
1.	63928/13 17/01/2013 (8 applicants)	Yuriy Pavlovich Dudnikov 01/01/1955 Eduard Petrovich Timoshin 04/02/1970 Vladimir Viktorovich Menkov 12/10/1982 Mikhail Borisovich Konstantinov 20/04/1984 Anton Vasilyevich Bolsheshapov 09/09/1985 Anatoliy Anatolyevich Berestnev 01/01/1961 Arslan Faritovich Sayfutdinov 01/01/1986 Sergey Borisovich Kutnyuk 01/01/1969	Romanenko Luydmila Viktorovna Tulun	IK-56 Sverdlovsky Region 09/01/2013 pending More than 4 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 22 day(s)		no water-supply or sewage systems in cells, a bucket serving as a lavatory was not separated from the rest of the cell, thus offering no privacy, dim light and no fresh air, an allowed daily walk of no more than two hours in one of the five recreation yards located close to a waste dump, each yard measuring 6 square metres	14,800
2.	70723/13 23/10/2013	Aydar Abuzarovich Mubarakshin 04/04/1978		IK-3 Samara Region 11/06/2010 pending More than 6 year(s) and 9 month(s) and 20 day(s)	160 inmate(s) 1.3 m² 4 toilet(s)	overcrowding, poor quality of water, poor quality of food, poor heating, 8 sinks for 160 inmates	15,500
3.	71658/13 25/09/2013	Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Gladkikh 23/08/1984		IK-11 Stavropol 15/07/2013 pending More than 3 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 16 day(s)	160 inmate(s) 1.6 m²	no hot water, lack of requisite medical assistance	13,300
4.	75596/13 05/11/2013	Igor Viktorovich Khakhulin 07/02/1961		IK-8, punishment ward, Republic of Udmurtiya 11/02/2013 to 28/03/2013 1 month(s) and 18 day(s)	4.25 m²	lack of requisite medical assistance, no drinking water, no washstand, broken pan, stench, high humidity, sleeping on the floor, low temperature, poor sanitary conditions	1,400
5.	77417/13 11/11/2013	Arkadiy Valeryevich Shmalakov 14/10/1984		IK-29 Kirov Region 23/03/2012 pending More than 5 year(s) and 8 day(s)	1.9 m²	no ventilation, insects and rats in the toilet house, bedbugs	15,300
6.	33654/14 20/10/2014	Vyacheslav Valeryevich Datsik 31/12/1980		IK-31 Krasnoyarsk Region 07/11/2013 to 16/10/2014 11 month(s) and 10 day(s)	1.9 m²	overcrowding, lack of fresh air, constant cigarette smoke	5,000
7.	12889/15 04/03/2015	Ravil Mirsaitovich Khakimov 09/02/1969	Kochneva Natalya Vladimirovna Yekaterinburg	IK-5 Sverdlovskiy Region 16/03/2014 to 17/10/2014 7 month(s) and 2 day(s)		lack of requisite medical assistance, no access to natural light or fresh air, constant electric light, dining table close to toilet, video surveillance denies privacy when using toilet, insects and rodents, no hot water, shower once a week or less often, handcuffing during outside exercises that were irregular	3,600
8.	13252/15 02/03/2015	Aleksey Viktorovich Kinev 03/09/1981	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-7 Kostroma 01/07/2010 to 13/02/2015 4 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 13 day(s)	120 inmate(s) 2 m² 3 toilet(s)	3 sinks, no drinking water, poor quality of water, bedbugs and rats	5,000

 

 




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