THIRD SECTION

CASE OF BRESHCHANOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 33120/08 and 10 others – see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

13 October 2022

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

In the case of Breshchanov and Others v. Russia,

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

Darian Pavli, President, Andreas Zünd, Frédéric Krenc, judges, and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 15 September 2022,

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 Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.

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 detention during their transport. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.

THE LAW

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

6. The applicants complained principally of the inadequate conditions of detention during their transport. 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 detained in poor conditions during transport. The details of the applicants’ transport are indicated in the appended table. The Court refers to the principles established in its case ‑ law regarding cramped and defective conditions in the detention and transit of prisoners (see, for instance, Khudoyorov v. Russia , no. 6847/02, §§ 118 ‑ 20, ECHR 2005 X (extracts), and Starokadomskiy v. Russia , no. 42239/02, §§ 53 ‑ 60, 31 July 2008). It reiterates in particular that extreme lack of space 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 MurÅ¡ić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 122 ‑ 41, ECHR 2016, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia , nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149 ‑ 59, 10 January 2012).

8. In the leading cases of Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, §§ 103-08, 22 May 2012 and Tomov and Others v. Russia , nos. 18255/10 and 5 others, 9 April 2019, 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 during their transport were inadequate.

10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.

11. Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (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 well ‑ established case-law (see Topekhin v. Russia , no. 78774/13, §§ 78-88, 10 May 2016, concerning conditions of detention of disabled inmates, Tomov and Others , cited above, §§ 92-156, concerning the lack of an effective remedy in respect of the complaints about conditions of detention during transport; and Gorlov and Others v. Russia , nos. 27057/06 and 2 others, 2 July 2019, concerning permanent video surveillance of detainees and lack of an effective remedy in that respect).

12. In applications nos. 33120/08, 5217/17, 13433/18, 16943/18, 33223/18, 41960/18, 42438/18, 21798/19 and 64125/19, the applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles 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.

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, Pukhachev and Zaretskiy v. Russia, nos. 17494/16 and 29203/16, 16 November 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

16. The Court further 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,

(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 during the default period plus three percentage points.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 13 October 2022, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention during transport)

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Means of transport

Start and end date

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]

1.

33120/08

21/03/2008

Aleksandr Olegovich BRESHCHANOV

1973train, van

16/11/2007 to

23/11/2007

lack of requisite physical/medical assistance, lack or inadequate furniture

Art. 3 - inadequate conditions of detention of disabled inmates - The applicant while in detention in Lefortovo detention facility in Moscow (IZ 1/1) and in IZ ‑ 62/1 between 24/06/2003 and 23/11/2007 suffered from a spinal cord injury and paraplegia but he was not provided with conditions of detention adapted to his disability, in particular, he was not provided with necessary equipment (crutches), he could not go to the exercise yard and remained inside all the time, he also had difficulties taking shower as washing facilities were not adapted for disabled detainees, he had to rely on other inmates to help him to go to the toilet.

16,000

2.

5217/17

09/11/2016

Oleg Mikhaylovich LOKTIONOV

1977Viktor Viktorovich Fedoseyev

Moscow

train, van, transit cell

13/03/2015

to 12/04/2018

0.4-0.7 m²

lack of privacy for toilet, passive smoking, lack or inadequate furniture, inadequate temperature, no or restricted access to toilet

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

3.

13433/18

14/02/2018

Mikhail Mikhaylovich CHEMYAKIN

1988train, transit cell

04/09/2017 to

27/09/2017

0,3 m²

overcrowding, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, no or restricted access to toilet, passive smoking, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to shower

1,000

4.

16943/18

19/09/2018

Omar Gazimagomedovich ISMAILOV

1978train (Makhachkala - Ukhta)

07/01/2018 to

23/03/2018

0.3 m²

overcrowding, insufficient number of sleeping places, lack of fresh air, no or restricted access to shower, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

5.

33016/18

04/05/2018

Gennadiy Mingishevich KHABBASOV

1973Tatyana Robertovna Yesina

Sevastopol

transit cell, train

18/11/2017 to

04/12/2017

passive smoking, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, overcrowding, no or restricted access to potable water, use of various measures of restraints

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

6.

33223/18

22/06/2018

Anton Nikolayevich DEMIN

1986Ashot Aleksandrovich Andreyev

Syktyvkar

van, train

27/05/2018 to

28/05/2018

van, train

05/06/2018 to

05/06/2018

0.5 m²

0.5 m²

overcrowding, no handrails in the van, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to toilet, poor quality of potable water, no or restricted access to potable water, lack of or insufficient electric light, passive smoking, lack of fresh air, lack of requisite medical assistance

overcrowding, no or restricted access to toilet, no handrails in the van, no or restricted access to potable water, poor quality of food, lack of or insufficient electric light, passive smoking

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

7.

36638/18

24/07/2018

Aleksey Gennadyevich BERDUTO

1966train, van

03/02/2018 to

01/03/2018

lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, lack or insufficient quantity of food, no or restricted access to toilet, overcrowding

1,000

8.

41960/18

19/08/2018

Andrey Valeryevich KOLOSKOV

1981train, van

17/02/2018 to

19/02/2018

0.25 m²

overcrowding, lack of fresh air, no or restricted access to toilet, insufficient number of sleeping places

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

9.

42438/18

06/08/2018

Yulian Yevgenyevich NEMTSEV

1981van, train

27/07/2018 to

28/07/2018

train, van, transit cell

09/08/2018 to

09/08/2018

train, van

03/04/2019

pending

0.4 m²

0.3 m²

lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air, inadequate temperature, overcrowding

overcrowding, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light

lack of fresh air, overcrowding, no or restricted access to toilet

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

10.

21798/19

21/08/2019

Anatoliy Leonidovich POROSHIN

1989Larisa Viktorovna Zakharova

Yekaterinburg

train, transit cell, van

27/09/2019 to

05/10/2019

insufficient number of sleeping places, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of privacy for toilet, no or restricted access to running water, no or restricted access to toilet, passive smoking, overcrowding

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport

1,000

11.

64125/19

13/01/2020

Stanislav Nikolayevich OVCHINNIKOV

1988Andrey Yevgenyevich Golubenko

Nea Skiony

train, transit cell, van

01/11/2019 to

02/11/2019

train, transit cell, van

29/11/2019 to

29/11/2019

0.3-1.2 m²

insufficient number of sleeping places, no or restricted access to toilet, poor quality of potable water, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light

see above

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport;

Art. 8 (1) - permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities - during detention in IK-25 Komi Republic, video surveillance by the opposite sex operators, 03/06/2016 – pending.

1,000

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