THIRD SECTION

DECISI ON

Application no. 75763/17 Fatbardh BUDO against Albania

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 12 January 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Dmitry Dedov, President, Darian Pavli, Peeter Roosma, judges, and O lga Chernishova, Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 18 October 2017,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

1. The applicant, Mr Fatbardh Budo , is an Albanian national, who was born in 1975 and lives in Gjirokastër . He was represented before the Court by Mr F. Caka , a lawyer practising in Tirana.

2. The Albanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their then Agent, Mr A. Metani and, subsequently, by Ms E. Muçaj of the State Advocate ’ s Office.

3. The applicant, who was a convicted prisoner, complained of a breach of Article 3 of the Convention about the use of handcuffs in a hospital setting and of Article 13 about the lack of an effective remedy for his Article 3 complaint.

4. The case was communicated to the Government on 18 December 2019.

6. On 3 December 2020 the Court received a declaration from the Government regarding a friendly settlement of the case, which reads as follows:

“I hereby declare that the Government of Albania offer to pay ex gratia , with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights, EUR 10,000 (ten thousand euros) to the applicant ... to cover any and all pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as EUR 700 (seven hundred euros) in respect of costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant.

2. The above amounts shall be payable within three months from the date of the notification of the decision delivered by the Court pursuant to Article 39 of the European Convention on Human Rights. From the expiry of the above-mentioned period 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. This payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.

3. The Government sincerely regret that the applicant was kept handcuffed to a hospital bed, and accept that the circumstances of the present case were demonstrative of a systemic and structural problem, namely the use of handcuffs to shackle a prisoner by a hospital bed, which had been provided for in the detailed rules concerning the conduct of prison police officers (2010).

4. This practise, namely the standard use of handcuffs in a hospital setting, has been discontinued as of 31 July 2018. Also, two recent legal acts, namely the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners Act (law no. 81/2020) and the Prison Police Act (law no. 80/2020) were enacted in 2020, and they put emphasis on conducting a risk assessment, including an assessment of the level of dangerousness of each prisoner, before applying any restraint measures.

5. The Government further undertake to:

- amend the existing implementing secondary legislation and adopt new secondary legislation, in application of the above Acts, including the adoption of new rules concerning the conduct of prison police officers, within a year from the date of the Court ’ s decision;

- take measures to create specialised units within appropriate health institutions with enhanced security elements that will meet the security needs and ensure the protection of prisoners ’ human rights;

- conduct training and awareness raising workshops with prison police officers and other relevant authorities on the recently adopted legislation with a view to ensuring respect for and protection of the prisoners ’ rights.”

7. On 8 December 2020 the Court received a declaration signed by the applicant and his representative regarding a friendly settlement of the case, the most relevant part of which reads as follows:

“2....accepts the proposal [made by the Government] and waives any further claims against Albania in respect of the facts of this application. I declare that the payment of the above amount constitutes the final settlement of this case.”

THE LAW

8. The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application ( Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention) . In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously ,

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 4 February 2021 .

Olga Chernishova Dmitry Dedov Deputy Registrar President