Published on 4 October 2021

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 37522/16 Zoran VUKUŠIĆ against Croatia lodged on 24 June 2016 communicated on 15 September 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant’s complaints under Article 3 of the Convention about inadequate conditions of his detention in Zagreb and Split Prisons, his solitary confinement in Split Prison, and his alleged ill ‑ treatment by prison guards.

In particular, he alleges that the cells in which he was placed were, inter alia , overcrowded and lacked basic hygiene and sanitary requirements, that he shared them with inmates infected with Hepatitis C, was exposed to passive smoking, and that he was allowed less than two hours of outdoor exercise per day.

He further claims that on two occasions in Split Prison he was placed in solitary confinement, in a room called “ gumenjara ”, where he was under total social isolation, uninterruptedly exposed to electric light, naked and at times with his hands and legs restrained.

He lastly alleges that he was beaten by the prison guards in Split Prison on 18 January 2012, as a result of which he fainted and sustained injuries to his head.

The applicant raised the above complaints before the domestic authorities.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Have the conditions of the applicant’s detention in Zagreb Prison and Split Prison, in particular in view of the size of his cells, the number of inmates placed in the same cells, sanitary and hygiene conditions, or any other condition referred to by the applicant, amounted specifically or cumulatively to inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see, for instance, Muršić v. Croatia , [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 136-140, 20 October 2016; Sylla and Nollomont v. Belgium , nos. 37768/13 and 36467/14, § 41, 16 May 2017; and Ulemek v. Croatia , no. 21613/16, §§ 127-131, 31 October 2019)?

2. Has the applicant been subjected to treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention in view of his solitary confinement in Split Prison (see, for instance, Csüllög v. Hungary , no. 30042/08, §§ 27-38, 7 June 2011; Razvyazkin v. Russia , no. 13579/09, §§ 97-108, 3 July 2012; and Gorbulya v. Russia , no. 31535/09, §§ 74-81, 6 March 2014)?

In relation to questions 1 and 2, the Government are requested to provide detailed information about the conditions in which the applicant was detained in Zagreb and Split Prisons.

3. Was the applicant subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment by the prison guards on 18 January 2012, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see, for instance, Gladović v. Croatia, no. 28847/08, §§ 19 and 56, 10 May 2011; V.D. v. Croatia, no. 15526/10, §§ 68-79, 8 November 2011; and Mafalani v. Croatia, no. 32325/13, §§ 122-127, 9 July 2015)?