Lexploria

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 49080/17 Anatoliy Yevgenyevich DMITRIYEV against Russia and 21 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 5 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 applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants in applications nos. 49080/17 and 6725/18,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.

The applicants’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention and the complaints under Article 13 of the Convention concerning the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention, were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”). In some of the applications, complaints based on the same facts were also communicated under other provisions of the Convention.

THE LAW

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

In the present applications, the applicants complained of conditions of their post-conviction detention in violation of the national requirements during periods which had already come to an end (for further details see the appended table). They also argued that they did not have an effective domestic remedy to complain about those conditions at the national level.

The Government submitted their observations, having disputed the violations 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 Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention.

The Court has recently held that applicants are required to make use of the newly introduced compensatory remedy in respect of improper conditions of past correctional detention in breach of domestic standards (see Shmelev and Others v. Russia (dec.), no. 41743/17, §§ 153-57, 17 March 2020). In the present case, the applicants complained about the conditions of their post-conviction detention which were, as indicated by the applicants, below the national standard of two square metres per person. One of the applicants also complained about the conditions of his detention in colony IK ‑ 56 in the Sverdlovsk Region. Those conditions in IK-56 of the Sverdlovsk Region were already the subject of the Court’s criticism, when it held that the lack of access to proper sanitary facilities run counter to the guarantees of Article 3 of the Convention (see Gorbulya v. Russia , no. 31535/09, § 94, 6 March 2014). The Court in this respect does not lose sight of the parties’ submissions that the Russian authorities decided to close the facility and that by the summer 2018 all inmates were transferred from it. It is clear that the conditions in IK-56 colony ran counter to the domestic legal requirements. It thus follows that the applicant who complained about the conditions of his detention in IK-56 colony in Sverdlovsk Region was in the same position as applicants who complained about their detention in overcrowded conditions of post-conviction facilities in violation of the national statutory norm of two square metres per person (see Shmelev and Others , (dec.)., cited above, § 154).

To sum up, the Court considers that in so far as the applicants have lodged prima facie well-founded complaints about breach of their rights by improper conditions of their detention, as described in the appended table, the Compensation Act affords them an opportunity to obtain compensatory redress. There are no circumstances which could justify the applicants’ failure to have recourse to the new compensatory remedy. It follows that their complaints, as listed in the appended table, under Articles 3 and 13 should be declared inadmissible pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.

The applicants in applications nos. 6725/18 and 10851/18 raised additional complaints under various Convention provisions. 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 applications nos. 6725/18 and 10851/18 must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 28 July 2022.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 and 13 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention and lack of an effective remedy in that regard)

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Facility

Start and end date

Duration

Inmates per brigade

Sq. m per inmate

Number of toilets per brigade

Specific grievances

49080/17

23/06/2017

Anatoliy Yevgenyevich DMITRIYEV

1982Stepanov Aleksey Sergeyevich

Moscow

IK-5 Ivanovo Region

01/09/2008 to 11/09/2017

9 year(s) and 11 day(s)

1.5 m²

overcrowding, no or restricted access to warm water, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, passive smoking, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to shower

62964/17

08/10/2017

Nikolay Vladimirovich MIRONOV

1980IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region

24/04/2014 to 23/02/2021

6 year(s) and 10 month(s)

130 inmate(s)

0.8 m²

no or restricted access to warm water, no or restricted access to shower, overcrowding, poor quality of food, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities

71935/17

14/09/2017

Aleksey Vladimirovich BASTRIKOV

1976IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region

10/03/2015 to 01/03/2021

5 year(s) and 11 month(s) and 20 day(s)

130 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

lack of the leisure room, no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of food, overcrowding in the kitchen, no or restricted access to shower, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of fresh air

78709/17

20/10/2017

Dmitriy Vladimirovich KOLCHIN

1971IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

20/10/2014 to 23/06/2021

6 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 4 day(s)

60 inmate(s)

1.5 m²

infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air, overcrowding, passive smoking

79737/17

07/11/2017

Sergey Aleksandrovich SVYATOV

1983IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

11/11/2011 to 30/12/2017

6 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 20 day(s)

62 inmate(s)

1.3 m²

lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, mouldy or dirty cell, lack or insufficient quantity of food, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to warm water

84214/17

22/11/2017

Roman Vladimirovich VARENKO

1983IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

28/10/2012 to 29/03/2021

8 year(s) and 5 month(s) and 2 day(s)

55 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

lack of fresh air, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, overcrowding, poor quality of food

3036/18

29/12/2017

Andrey Aleksandrovich SHEVCHUK

1973IK-1 Arkhangelsk

12/02/2016 to 29/12/2017

1 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 18 day(s)

80 inmate(s)

1.8 m²

overcrowding, no or restricted access to running water, no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to toilet

3824/18

15/12/2017

Andrey Vladimirovich GLUSHKO

1994Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Kostroma

IK-29 Arkhangelsk Region

19/03/2016 to 17/05/2018

2 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 29 day(s)

130 inmate(s)

1.5 m²

infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air, no free place during promenade, lack of or insufficient electric light, no ventilation

4792/18

11/01/2018

Ivan Ivanovich SHITOV

1978IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

01/11/2010 to 10/05/2021

10 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 10 day(s)

50 inmate(s)

1.44 m²

overcrowding, lack of fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air

6725/18

09/01/2018

Aleksey Yevgenyevich IVANOV

1976IK-56 Sverdlovsk Region

16/03/2016 to 22/09/2017

1 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 7 day(s)

lack of sewerage and water supply systems, inadequate hygienic facilities, restricted access to potable water and its poor quality, inadequate state of the exercise yards, unpleasant odour from the waste pit, insufficient natural and electric light, poor quality of food, failure to provide with requisite clothing allowance, restricted access to shower

8242/18

22/01/2018

Aleksandr Sergeyevich LEVIN

1984IK-8 Bashkortostan Republic

22/11/2016 to 07/05/2021

4 year(s) and 5 month(s) and 16 day(s)

160 inmate(s)

1.4-1.7 m²

4 toilet(s)

infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food, passive smoking, inadequate temperature, inadequate clothing

10786/18

08/02/2018

Roman Viktorovich ARTEMOV

1978IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

26/03/2012 to 29/09/2020

8 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 4 day(s)

1.5 m²

lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack or insufficient quantity of food, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to toilet, overcrowding

10851/18

12/02/2018

Sergey Olegovich ZUBENKO

1970IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

02/09/2013 to 03/07/2020

6 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 2 day(s)

125 inmate(s)

1.7 m²

lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to running water, poor quality of food, lack of toiletries

13076/18

19/02/2018

Rinat Faritovich MUZIPOV

1991IK-29 Kirov Region

19/05/2016 to 26/01/2021

4 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 8 day(s)

1.5 m²

overcrowding, passive smoking, poor quality of food, poor quality of potable water, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents

13255/18

05/02/2018

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich GORYAYNOV

1990IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

01/05/2013 to 25/11/2020

7 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 25 day(s)

1.5 m²

overcrowding, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of fresh air, bad odour in dormitory, no or restricted access to running water, no or restricted access to toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air

14090/18

19/02/2018

Oleg Gennadyevich SMIRNOV

1989IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

04/04/2016 to 05/05/2021

5 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 2 day(s)

135 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

overcrowding, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to running water, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of privacy for toilet, lack or insufficient quantity of food, poor sanitary conditions in the canteen, lack of seasonal clothing, no or restricted access to shower, lack of conditions for uninterrupted sleep

14190/18

06/03/2018

Abruslan Vladimirovich GUMEROV

1975IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region

01/02/2015 to 26/08/2021

6 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 26 day(s)

1.6 m²

overcrowding, lack of privacy for toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to warm water, no or restricted access to running water, lack of or insufficient natural light, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or insufficient electric light, poor sanitary conditions in cells, poor quality of food, lack of requisite medical assistance, lack of fresh air

15117/18

12/03/2018

Valeriy Ivanovich KUZELYAK

1998IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

01/05/2017 to 29/03/2021

3 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 29 day(s)

1.5 m²

lack of fresh air, no or restricted access to toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of food

16749/18

20/03/2018

Sergey Petrovich PECHERSKIKH

1981IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

17/04/2013 to 10/06/2021

8 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 25 day(s)

140 inmate(s)

1.85 m²

8 toilet(s)

poor quality of food, overcrowding, lack of fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents

17176/18

22/03/2018

Dmitriy Valeryevich TSALKO

1988IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod

01/06/2017 to 28/01/2021

3 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 28 day(s)

120 inmate(s)

1.5 m²

overcrowding, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of fresh air, poor state of the sewage and water supply system, insufficient number of toilets and wash basins, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, inadequate state of the exercise yard, poor quality of food

21729/18

07/05/2018

Ivan Mikhaylovich BEZRUKAVYY

1984IK-3 Leningrad Region

19/10/2017 to 16/02/2021

3 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 29 day(s)

260 inmate(s)

1.6 m²

9 toilet(s)

constant electric light, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, overcrowding

22368/18

28/04/2018

Denis Gennadyevich PATSUK

1984IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region

19/01/2015 to 02/03/2018

3 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 12 day(s)

1.2 m²

inadequate temperature, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to running water

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DMITRIYEV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

DMITRIYEV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA