THIRD SECTION

CASE OF PAVLOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 39095/17 and 3 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 Pavlov 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 Government submitted unilateral declarations in applications nos. 47094/17 and 71820/17 which were not accepted by the applicants. The Court notes that the unilateral declaration did not offer a sufficient basis for finding that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention does not require the Court to continue its examination of the case (Article 37 § 1 in fine). The Court rejects the Government’s request to strike these applications out and will accordingly pursue their examination (see Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary issue) [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75, ECHR 2003-VI).

7. 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.”

8. The Court notes that the applicants were detained in poor conditions during transport. The details of the applicants’ detention 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 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 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).

9. In the leading case of Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, §§ 103-08, 22 May 2012, the Court already found a violation in respect of the issues similar to those in the present case.

10. 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.

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

12. In applications nos. 39095/17, 47094/17 and 71820/17, the applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see the 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 Andrey Smirnov v. Russia , no. 43149/10, §§ 35-57, 13 February 2018, concerning restrictions on family visits in pre-trial detention facilities; Chaldayev v. Russia , no. 33172/16, §§ 69-83, 28 May 2019, related to discriminatory treatment as regards family visits in pre-trial detention facilities; Svinarenko and Slyadnev v. Russia [GC], nos. 32541/08 and 43441/08, §§ 122-45, ECHR 2014 (extracts), regarding placement in a metal cage during court hearings; Tomov and Others v. Russia , nos. 18255/10 and 5 others, §§ 143-56, 9 April 2019, concerning lack of effective domestic remedies in respect of the complaints about conditions of transport).

13. In view of the above findings, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with the complaint lodged by Mr Makarov (application no. 71820/17) under Article 13 of the Convention in respect of his placement in a metal cage in the courtroom (compare Valyuzhenich v. Russia , no. 10597/13, § 27, 26 March 2019).

14. In applications nos. 39095/17 and 35416/19 the applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.

15. The Court has examined these complaints 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.

16. 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.”

17. 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, Pavlova v. Russia , no. 8578/12, 18 February 2020, Kungurov v. Russia , no. 70468/17, 18 February 2020, and Vorontsov and Others v. Russia , nos. 59655/14 and 2 others, 31 January 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

18. 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

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 /household

(in euros) [1]

39095/17

18/05/2017

(4 applicants)

Household

Maksim Anatolyevich PAVLOV

1991Anatoliy Georgiyevich PAVLOV

1956Georgiy Anatolyevich PAVLOV

1989Zhanna Anvarovna PAVLOVA

1967train

16/12/2016 to

23/12/2016

The complaint lodged by the first applicant.

0.7 m²

lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to potable water, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of privacy for toilet, overcrowding

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inhuman conditions of transport, restriction on the frequency and duration of family visits and separation during the latter;

Art. 8 (1) - lack of practical opportunities for or restriction on prison visits - restriction of family visits in IZ-1 Chelyabinsk Region, where the first applicant was detained during the period of 20/06/2013-09/12/2016, to two short visits per month for 40-60 min. each, held in 2 metres from the wardens, and with placement of the first applicant between June 2016 - 20/11/2016 in a metal cage in 2 metres from the other applicants (see Moiseyev v. Russia, no. 62936/00, §§ 252-59, 9 October 2008);

Art. 14 - prohibition of discrimination read in conjunction with the complaint under Article 8: the restrictions on the right to long family visits were linked to the status of the first applicant as an accused person placed in a remand prison (see Chaldayev v. Russia, no. 33172/16, §§ 66-83, 28 May 2019).

4,450

47094/17

02/10/2017

Sergey Gennadyevich GALKIN

1972transit cell

27/04/2017 to

13/08/2017

1 m²

overcrowding, mouldy or dirty cell, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of or insufficient electric light

Art. 3 - use of metal cages and/or other security arrangements in courtrooms in the Sverdlovskiy District Court of Krasnoyarsk on 23/05/2017.

8,500

71820/17

18/09/2017

Andrey Yuryevich MAKAROV

1979van

27/01/2015 to

09/06/2017

0.3 m²

no light, no ventilation

Art. 3 - use of metal cages and/or other security arrangements in courtrooms - detention in a metal cage during hearings in the Vologda Town Court in the criminal proceedings leading to the judgment on 29/05/2017;

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of poor conditions of transport.

8,500

35416/19

17/05/2019

Mikhail Stanislavovich INKOV

1978van, train

09/08/2019 to

11/08/2019

0.45 m²

no or restricted access to toilet, overcrowding

1,000

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