THIRD SECTION
Application no. 54100/13
Mihai IANCĂU
against Romania
lodged on 19 August 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Mihai Iancău, is a Romanian national, who was born in 1990. He is currently detained in the Satu-Mare Penitentiary.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant is executing a sentence of five years imprisonment.
On 13 March 2013, the applicant was arrested and placed in the facilities of the Police Detention Centre of Zalău. On unknown dates, he was successively transferred to the Oradea, Gherla, Bistrița and Satu-Mare Penitentiaries.
The applicant states that the conditions of detention in all these establishments are inhuman and degrading.
The material conditions in the Police Detention Centre of Zalău are described by the applicant as follows: (i) the cell measures approximately 8.8 square meters, it includes four beds, a table, and a bench; (ii) a sink and toilet are provided in the same space of the room; (iii) no hot water was provided; (iv) access to the walking space was restricted to one hour per day in a space of approximately 32 square meters.
The material conditions in the Oradea Penitentiary are described by the applicant as follows: (i) the cell measures approximately 13.2 square meters, with 8 beds, a table, and a bench; (ii) the surface of the room includes a toilet of 2.2 square meters; (iii) the room was infested with parasites (bedbugs and cockroaches). The applicant states he lived in similar conditions in the Gherla and Bistrița Penitentiaries.
The material conditions in the Satu-Mare Penitentiary are described by the applicant as follows: (i) the cell measures 8 square meters and includes 6 beds divided on three levels; (ii) the window measures 1 square meter; (iii) the toilet measures 4 square meters and includes a flush toilet, a sink and a shower; (iv) hot water is provided only two hours per week, not enough for all the 6 inmates to have an adequate personal hygiene; (v) clothes are washed once every three months and they are brought wet to the cell, without a special space for drying them; (vi) there are bedbugs in the cell, which prevent him from resting and make him nervous; (vii) he only benefits from a one hour walk per day in a courtyard of 60 square meters shared by detainees of an entire wing at a time, namely by approximately 80-90 people.
The applicant further states that the food provided in all the prisons tastes badly and does not meet the standard caloric intake.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention about the inhuman and degrading conditions of detention, as described above, in the Police Detention Center of Zalău and in the Penitentiaries of Oradea, Gherla, Bistrița, and Satu-Mare.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant been subjected, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, to inhuman or degrading treatment in the Police Detention Center of Zalău and in the Penitentiaries of Oradea, Gherla, Bistrița, and Satu-Mare?
2. The Government are invited to provide information on the applicant’s detention conditions in the Police Detention Center of Zalău and in the Penitentiaries of Oradea, Gherla, Bistrița, and Satu-Mare, in particular in connection with the material conditions of the cells where the applicant has been detained, namely the size of the cells, the number and size of the windows, the number of beds, the number of persons being detained in the same cell with the applicant, and the sanitary facilities available in the cells. The Government are also invited to provide information regarding the quality of food, access to water, out-of-cell activities, and presence of parasites.
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