THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 35833/18 Anton Viktorovich YEROKHIN against Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 19 May 2022 as a Committee composed of:

Darian Pavli, President, Andreas Zünd, Mikhail Lobov, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 12 July 2018,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant’s details are set out in the appended table.

The applicant’s complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).

THE LAW

Relying on Article 3 of the Convention, the applicant complained of conditions of his detention in violation of the national requirements during periods which had already come to an end (for further details see the appended table).

The Government submitted their observations, having disputed the violation alleged. On 10 January 2020 the Government submitted additional information about the new Compensation Act and asked to treat it as a new remedy in respect of conditions of detention complaints under Article 3 of the Convention.

The applicant maintained his complaints.

In its decision of Shmelev and Others v. Russia ((dec.), no. 41743/17 and 16 others, 17 March 2020), the Court has examined similar applications lodged by Russian applicants and declared them inadmissible for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. In particular, the Court took into account that on 27 January 2020 the new Compensation Act entered into force in Russia. It noted that the Act provides that any detainee who alleges that his or her conditions of detention are in breach of national legislation or international agreements of the Russian Federation can apply to a court and can claim, at the same time, a finding of a violation of inadequate detention conditions and financial compensation for such a breach. Having thus considered that there exists an effective remedy in Russia for cases where applicants complain about a breach of Article 3 in respect of past pre-trial detention, and having dismissed the applications by such applicants for non-exhaustion, the Court declared that it would apply that approach to all similar applications (see Shmelev and Others , (dec.), cited above, § 130).

Turning to the circumstances of the present case and 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 of these complaints. It thus considers that in so far as the applicant has lodged prima facie well-founded complaints about breach of his rights by improper conditions of his detention, as described in the appended table, the Compensation Act affords him an opportunity to obtain compensatory redress. Accordingly, the applicant should exhaust this remedy before his complaints can be examined by the Court. It follows that his complaints, as listed in the appended table, under Article 3 should be declared inadmissible pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Declares the application inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 9 June 2022.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention)

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Facility

Start and end date

Duration

Sq. m per inmate

Specific grievances

35833/18

12/07/2018

Anton Viktorovich YEROKHIN

1982IZ-77/3 Moscow

02/12/2017 to 20/04/2018

4 month(s) and 19 day(s)

IZ-50/12 Moscow Region

26/04/2018 to 28/12/2020

2 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 3 day(s)

1.8-2.4 m²

insufficient number of sleeping places, lack of fresh air, inadequate temperature

insufficient number of sleeping places, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food