FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 42263/15 Ion VASILE against Romania and 4 other applications

(s ee appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 17 December 2020 as a Committee composed of:

Armen Harutyunyan, President, Jolien Schukking , Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,

and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application s lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicant s is set out in the appended table.

The applicants ’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”) .

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The applicants complained of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They relied on Article 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The Government pleaded primarily that the applicants had lost their victim status due to the fact that they had benefitted from the remedy offered by Law no. 169/2017 amending and completing Law no. 254/2013 on the execution of sentences. They asked the Court to reject the present applications for being incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention.

The applicants disagreed claiming that the compensation awarded to them had not been sufficient .

The Court notes that, in its recent decision Dîrjan and Ştefan v. Romania (( dec. ), nos. 14224/15 and 50977/15, 15 April 2020) it has examined similar applications and declared them inadmissible considering that the applicants had lost their victim status. The Court noted that Law no. 169/2017 amending and completing Law no. 254/2013 on the execution of sentences, adopted following the pilot judgment in the case of Rezmiveș and Others v. Romania (nos. 61467/12 and 3 others, 25 April 2017) and in force between October 2017 and December 2019, had been an effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention in Romanian prisons. More specifically, that law had set forth a compensatory remedy, available for periods of detention ranging from 2012 to 2019 and allowing the deduction of six days for 30 days spent in conditions of detention that fell short of standards compatible with Article 3 of the Convention (see Dîrjan and Ştefan , cited above, § 28). This benefit had impacted on the term of the prison sentences giving the detainees the opportunity of earlier release on parole.

Turning to the circumstances of the present cases, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on their admissibility. The above-mentioned remedy was available to the applicants in the present applications and, indeed, they benefitted from it. In particular, on different dates, the domestic authorities, applying the provisions described in the abovementioned decision Dîrjan and Ştefan , awarded compensation, through the reduction of days, to the applicants for the entire period of detention spent in inadequate conditions of which they complained (for further details see the appended table). Furthermore, the applicants have been released from prison.

The Court is therefore satisfied that the applicants have been afforded adequate redress and can no longer claim to be victims of a violation of their rights under Article 3 of the Convention. It follows that the applications in this part are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.

In application no. 43701/16 the applicant also raised complaints under Article 3 of the Convention in relation to periods of detention preceding the start date specified in the appended table.

The Court has examined this application 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 do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention as they were lodged outside the six-month time-limit.

It follows that this part of application no. 43701/16 must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 21 January 2021 .

             {signature_p_2}

Liv Tigerstedt Armen Harutyunyan Acting Deputy 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 ’ s name

Year of birth

Representative ’ s name and location

Facility

Start and end date

Duration

Domestic compensation awarded

(in days)

based on total period calculated domestically

42263/15

25/09/2015

Ion VASILE

1974Craiova Prison

16/05/2013 to

29/07/2015

2 years and 2 months and 14 days

378 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012 - 28/12/2017

43699/16

21/07/2016

Anton IVANCIU

1982Ionela Mărgărit

Bucharest

Galaţi and Brăila Prisons

15/03/2013 to

31/10/2017

4 years and 7 months and 17 days

336 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 14/03/2013 - 31/10/2017

43701/16

21/07/2016

Åžtefan -Lucian CORANGÄ‚

1978Ionela Mărgărit

Bucharest

Galați and Brăila Prisons

05/02/2013 to

20/02/2018

5 years and 16 days

402 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012 - 20/02/2018

43707/16

21/07/2016

Cristi -Robert MILA

1985Ionela Mărgărit

Bucharest

Galați and Brăila Prisons

25/02/2014 to

12/03/2018

4 years and 16 days

300 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 27/12/2013 - 12/03/2018

44345/16

25/07/2016

IonuÈ› CIURAR

1993Vasile RareÈ™ Biro

Satu Mare

Sălaj Police Station, Satu Mare Prison

06/03/2015 to

07/11/2017

2 years and 8 months and 2 days

192 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 06/03/2015 - 07/11/2017