Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)32[1]
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
Alver against Estonia
(Application No. 64812/01, judgment of 8 November 2005, final on 8 February 2006)
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention” and “the Court”),
Having regard to the judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;
Recalling that the violation of the Convention found by the Court in this case concerns inhuman and degrading treatment of the applicant while in detention on remand in 1996-1999 (violation of Article 3) (see details in Appendix);
Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken in order to comply with Estonia's obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;
Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee's Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
Having satisfied itself that, within the time-limit set, the respondent state paid the applicant the just satisfaction provided in the judgment (see details in Appendix),
Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded in the judgment, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate, of
- individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and
- general measures preventing, similar violations;
Having examined the measures taken by the respondent state to that effect, the details of which appear in the Appendix,
DECLARES that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and DECIDES to close the examination of this case.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)32
Information on the measures taken to comply with the judgment in the case of
Alver against Estonia
Introductory case summary
This case concerns the poor conditions in which the applicant was detained on remand in the Tallinn Central Prison and in the Jögeva Police District Arrest House (violation of Article 3).
The European Court found that the overcrowding, the poor conditions of the cell (no proper furniture, sanitary facilities, ventilation or natural light), the absence of sufficient outdoor exercise, the inadequacy of the food, the applicant's state of health and the fact that he had been detained under these conditions for about three years and seven months in 1996-1999, amounted to degrading treatment.
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Total
-
3 000 EUR
-
3 000 EUR
Paid on 03/03/2006
b) Individual measures
The applicant was transferred to serve his sentence in Murru Prison in 1999 and was released in November 2000. The consequences of the violation found in this case having been redressed by the Court through the award of just satisfaction in respect of the non-pecuniary damage suffered, no further individual measure seems necessary.
II.General measures
Tallinn Central Prison was closed in 2002 and the premises are no longer used as a prison. As regards the Jögeva Arrest House and other arrest houses, the Ministry of the Interior has prepared a complex programme to build or very extensively renovate them. The programme provides seven new establishments and the closure of the existing ones during 2007-2010. The necessary funds have been included in the “State Budget Strategy 2007-2010”. The Jögeva Arrest House will be closed down and a new building should be ready for use in January 2009.
Meanwhile, pending the completion of the rebuilding programme, measures have been taken to improve the standard of the existing arrest houses. In 2003, police prefectures were ordered to improve health services and everyday conditions in arrest houses. They were ordered to take measures to improve artificial lighting and ventilation, to procure bed linen, to organise regular changing and cleaning of linen and to provide the necessary toilet articles for detainees. They were also instructed to allow at least one hour's outdoor exercise daily for all detainees and to make sure that everyone taken into detention passes a medical examination.
Moreover, detainees may file complaints either through the prison system or directly to the Ministry of Justice, the Legal Chancellor, the President of the Republic, the prosecutor, the investigator or a court.
The judgment of the European Court has been translated into Estonian, published on the website of the Council of Europe Information Office in Tallinn () and widely disseminated, particularly to all prison directors.
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The government considers that the general measures adopted will prevent similar violations and that Estonia has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46 paragraph 1 of the Convention.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 April 2007 at the 992nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies
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