Lexploria

THIRD SECTION

CASE OF VORONTSOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

( Applications nos. 24753/16 and 6 others –

see appended list )

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

14 June 2018

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

In the case of Vorontsov and Others v. Russia ,

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

Alena Poláčková , President, Dmitry Dedov , Jolien Schukking , judges, and Liv Tigerstedt , Acting Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having deliberated in private on 24 May 2018 ,

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 complaints under Article 13 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, Kud Å‚a 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. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW

11. Some applicants also submitted complaints under Article 13 of the Convention (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. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

12. In applications nos. 24753/16 and 63407/17, the applicants also raised other complaints under Article 3 of the Convention.

13. The Court has examined the applications listed in the appended table 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 either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.

It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention .

V . APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

14. 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.”

15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case ‑ law (see, in particular, Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, (just satisfaction), no. 5993/08, 16 October 2014, and Mozharov and Others v. Russia, no. 16401/12 and 9 others, 21 March 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

16. 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 complaints concerning the inadequate conditions of detention and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court , as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of the applications nos. 24753/16 and 63407/17 inadmissible;

3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention, as set out in the appended table ;

4. Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention 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 14 June 2018 , pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Liv Tigerstedt Alena Poláčková

Acting D eputy 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

Inmates per brigade

Sq. m. per inmate

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]

24753/16

16/08/2017

Aleksandr Eduardovich Vorontsov

07/01/1987

IK-29 Kirov Region

06/11/2016 to

19/07/2017

8 month(s) and 14 day(s)

IK-29 Kirov Region

13/08/2017 to

19/02/2018

6 month(s) and 7 day(s)

18 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

bunk beds, lack of privacy for toilet, no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of potable water, no or restricted access to running water, overcrowding, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to potable water, lack or insufficient quantity of food, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -

5,800

38346/16

13/05/2016

Sergey Yevgenyevich Radkovskiy

20/02/1980

Malinin Andrey Anatolyevich

Pechora

IK-1 Syktyvkar, Komi Republic

05/10/2015

pending

More than 2 year(s) and

6 month(s) and 16 day(s)

48 inmate(s)

1.7 m²

overcrowding, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to warm water, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -

9,800

79443/16

30/11/2016

Vasiliy Viktorovich Vinogradov

05/02/1965

Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Kostroma

IK-1 Kostroma

02/12/2006

pending

More than 11 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 19 day(s)

100 inmate(s)

1.5-2 m²

overcrowding, lack of or insufficient natural light, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to running water, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -

9,300

35610/17

03/05/2017

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Semenov

03/05/1978

IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region

29/03/2014

pending

More than 4 year(s) and 23 day(s)

120 inmate(s)

1.9 m²

lack or inadequate furniture, bunk beds, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of requisite medical assistance, overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to shower, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, insufficient disinfection of plates and cups

8,000

47100/17

22/08/2017

Nikolay Nikolayevich Klippa

22/07/1987

IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region

21/05/2015 to

02/03/2017

1 year(s) and 9 month(s) and 10 day(s)

IK-2 (SUS) Zabaykalskiy Region

03/07/2017

pending

More than 9 month(s) and 18 day(s)

84 inmate(s)

1. 6 m²

6 inmate(s)

1. 7 m²

overcrowding, no or restricted access to warm water, no or restricted access to shower, lack of fresh air, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, poor quality of food

overcrowding, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention -

7,000

60009/17

01/08/2017

Sergey Sergeyevich Bakhtin

02/05/1979

IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

10/07/2013

pending

More than 4 year(s) and 9 month(s) and 11 day(s)

1.5 m²

overcrowding, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of privacy for toilet, poor quality of food

7,300

63407/17

07/07/2017

Vladimir Igorevich Belyakov

05/02/1970

IK-29 Kirov Region

23/04/2017 to

09/08/2017

3 month(s) and 18 day(s)

IK-29 Kirov Region

27/08/2017 to

13/09/2017

18 day(s)

IK-29 Kirov Region

02/11/2017 to

26/06/2018

7 month(s) and 25 day(s)

200 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

200 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

200 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

overcrowding, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to shower, lack of fresh air

5,300

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