Lexploria

THIRD SECTION

CASE OF SMIRNOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

( Application no. 5058/17 and 8 others –

see appended list )

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

8 February 2018

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

In the case of Smirnov and Others v. Russia ,

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

Luis López Guerra, President, Dmitry Dedov , Jolien Schukking , judges, and Liv Tigerstedt Acting Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having deliberated in private on 18 January 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 other complaints under the provisions 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 and the Government ’ s objection related to the application of the six-month time-limit, 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. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

11. In applications nos. 5058/17, 10082/17 and 20936/17 the applicants also submitted complaints under Article 13 of the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded w ithin 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 . APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

12. 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.”

13. 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.

14. 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 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 8 February 2018 , pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Liv Tigerstedt Luis López Guerra 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

Number of toilets per brigade

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]

5058/17

22/12/2016

Sergey Anatolyevich Smirnov

13/06/1986

Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Kostroma

IK-12 Vologda Region

03/05/2012 to

13/09/2016

4 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 11 day(s).

32 inmate(s)

2 m²

5 toilet(s)

Mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air, no or restricted access to running water, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, poor quality of food.

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

5,000

8567/17

12/12/2016

Yuriy Nikolayevich Makhnov

27/09/1977

IK-56 Black Golden Eagle Sverdlovsk Region

11/12/2009

Pending.

More than 8 year(s)

and 9 day(s).

2 m²

Lack of or insufficient natural light, no ventilation, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of potable water, no or restricted access to shower, inadequate toilet.

8,300

10075/17

19/01/2017

Vasiliy Sergeyevich Lodin

13/12/1983

IK-16 Arkhangelsk region Unit 3 section 2

07/01/2015 to

29/12/2016

1 year(s) and 11 month(s) and 23 day(s) .

1.5 m²

No or restricted access to toilet, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient natural light, constant electric light, no ventilation, infestation of cell with insects/rodents.

5,000

10082/17

10/01/2017

Oleg Nikolayevich Syslov

27/04/1979

IK-56

Black Golden Eagle

04/09/2011

Pending.

More than 6 year(s) and

3 month(s) and 16 day(s) .

L ack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of privacy for toilet, poor quality of potable water, poor quality of food, lack or insufficient quantity of food .

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

8,000

10104/17

28/12/2016

Denis Vladimirovich Lavrentyev

13/07/1984

Prison hospital

78 St Petersburg

30/08/2015 to

22/10/2016

1 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 23 day(s) .

L ack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to warm water, inadequate temperature, no or restricted access to shower, poor quality of food, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to toilet .

5,000

10280/17

17/01/2017

Roman Vasilyevich Astakhurov

09/04/1977

IK-1 Arkhangelsk Region Unit 9

01/06/2015

P ending .

More than 2 year(s) and

6 month(s) and 19 day(s) .

1.6 m²

N o or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of potable water .

8,000

20936/17

20/02/2017

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Kuzin

02/09/1984

Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Kostroma

IK-29

Arkhangelsk Region

23/05/2016

pending

More than 1 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 27 day(s) .

130 inmate(s)

0.5 m²

6 toilet(s)

M ouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air, no or restricted access to running water, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, lack or insufficient quantity of food .

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

6,800

26284/17

15/03/2017

Vladimir Viktorovich Nikiforov

29/05/1960

IK-11 Nizhny Novgorod Region

11/11/2011 to

14/03/2017

5 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 4 day(s) .

140 inmate(s)

2.2 m²

6 toilet(s)

P oor quality of food, no or restricted access to warm water, inadequate clothes .

5,000

26571/17

27/03/2017

Igor Yuryevich Markov

29/12/1986

IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

29/10/2012 to

08/11/2016

4 year(s) and 11 day(s) .

58 inmate(s)

1.5 m²

O vercrowding, lack of fresh air, passive smoking, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, infestation of cell with insects/rodents .

5,000

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