FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 24907/16 Mircea IACOVIȚĂ against Romania and 4 other applications

( s ee appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 15 October 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 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 as the ones in the present case 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, the above 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. Thus, 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 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.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 5 November 2020 .

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

Date of birth

Representative ’ s name and location

Facility

Start and end date

Duration

Domestic compensation awarded (in days)

based on total period calculated domestically

24907/16

09/06/2016

Mircea IACOVIȚĂ

16/09/1967

Jilava and Giurgiu Prisons

22/07/2015 to 10/05/2019

3 years and 9 months and 19 days

366 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 22/07/2015 - 10/05/2019

28427/16

12/07/2016

Ovidiu CZAPO

17/10/1981

Ligia Stoica ,

Medias

Jilava Prison Hospital

16/08/2013 to 18/09/2018

5 years and 1 month and 3 days

312 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 16/08/2013 - 18/09/2018

31338/16

28/05/2016

Mircea VLAD

11/08/1969

Ionela Mărgărit ,

Bucharest

Galați and Brăila Prisons

18/09/2014 to 06/11/2017

3 years and 1 month and 20 days

228 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 18/09/2014 - 06/11/2017

47624/16

11/10/2016

Gheorghe VILAUT

19/10/1985

Vasile RareÈ™ Biro,

Satu Mare

MaramureÈ™ County Police Station, Gherla, Rahova , Arad, Jilava and Baia Mare Prisons

25/01/2013 to 15/11/2017

4 years and 9 months and 22 days

216 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 25/01/2013 - 15/11/2017

48867/16

01/11/2016

Carmen DINU

05/02/1978

Irina Maria Peter,

Bucharest

Bucharest Central Arrest and Târgșor Prison

20/05/2015 to 28/12/2018

3 years and 7 months and 9 days

258 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 20/05/2015 - 28/12/2018