Published on 19 April 2021

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 39150/20 Oleksiy Anatoliyovych BENYUKH against Ukraine lodged on 4 November 2020 communicated on 30 March 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns a life prisoner, in detention since 1 May 1999. The applicant alleges that during the detention almost all his teeth had been extracted for medical reasons. As a result, he currently experiences pain while eating the food served in prison, his pronunciation has changed, and his face has deformed. He has also acquired several chronic diseases.

The applicant was examined by a dentist and it was recommended that he be fitted with dentures. Since October 2019 the applicant and the administration of the penitentiary medical unit have been asking the local authorities to provide the applicant with free dentures as he has no means to pay. However, all those requests were rejected as the applicant did not belong to the category of persons entitled to free dentures and the expenses for prisoners ’ dentures were not included in the local budget.

The applicant complains under Article 3 and Article 13 about the lack of adequate medical assistance in detention, notably as concerns the dentures, and lack of adequate response to his complaints in that respect.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention due to the alleged lack of adequate medical care for his health condition, most notably on account of the failure to provide the applicant with dentures?

The respondent Government are invited to provide:

( i ) the applicant ’ s relevant medical records since his placement in detention on 1 May 1999, notably concerning the dental care and dentures;

(ii) information about the rules in force and the relevant practices regarding the provision of dentures to the general population and to prisoners, including life prisoners.

2. Did the applicant have at his disposal an effective domestic remedy for his complaint under Article 3, as required by Article 13 of the Convention?