FOURTH SECTION
CASE OF IANUȘCOVSCHI AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA
(Application nos. 18357/14 and 12 others
– see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
30 July 2020
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Ianușcovschi and Others v. Romania,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, President,
Georges Ravarani,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 9 July 2020,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Romania lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained under Article 3 of the Convention of the inadequate conditions of their detention.
THE LAWJOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION
6. The applicants complained of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They relied on Article 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
Article 3
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
7. The Government raised a preliminary objection concerning the applicants’ loss of victim status for the part of their detention starting from 24 July 2012 since they claimed that the applicants were afforded adequate redress based on Law no. 169/2017 amending and completing Law no. 254/2013 on the execution of sentences for this part of their detention.
8. The Court notes that the domestic remedy introduced in respect of inadequate conditions of detention in Romania and applicable until December 2019 was held to be an effective one in the case of Dîrjan and Ştefan v. Romania ((dec.), nos. 14224/15 and 50977/15, §§ 23‑33, 15 April 2020). This remedy was available to the applicants in the applications concerned. Indeed, they were afforded adequate redress for the periods of detention starting from 24 July 2012 until the date of their release from prison.
9. Therefore, the Court accepts the Government’s objection and finds that these parts of the applications are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
10. In application no. 18357/14, the Government raised a preliminary objection of non-compliance with the six-month time-limit, claiming that the applicant’s complaint regarding his initial detention period had been lodged out of time.
11. The Court observes that in application no. 18357/14 the applicant’s complaint regarding his initial detention which ceased on 4 May 2004 by his transfer to another prison facility in respect of which he did not raise any complaint, was lodged with the Court on 4 May 2015, that is, more than six months after the transfer.
12. Therefore, the Court accepts the Government’s objection and finds that this part of application no. 18357/14 was lodged outside the six-month time-limit and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
13. As concerns the remaining parts of the applicants’ detention, prior to 24 July 2012, the Court notes that the applicants were kept in detention in poor conditions. The details of the applicants’ detention are indicated in the appended table. The Court refers to the principles established in its case‑law regarding inadequate conditions of detention (see, for instance, Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 96‑101, ECHR 2016). It reiterates in particular that a serious lack of space in a prison cell weighs heavily as a factor to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the detention conditions described are “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see Muršić, cited above, §§ 122 ‑141, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149‑159, 10 January 2012).
14. In the leading case of Rezmiveș and Others v. Romania, nos. 61467/12 and 3 others, 25 April 2017, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
15. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the applicants’ conditions of detention were inadequate.
16. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
17. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
18. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Rezmiveș and Others v. Romania, nos. 61467/12 and 3 others, 25 April 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
19. The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,Decides to join the applications;Declares the complaints concerning the inadequate conditions of detention, as set out in the appended table, admissible and the remainder of the applications inadmissible;Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention;Holds
(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 30 July 2020, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtStéphanie Mourou-Vikström
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inadequate conditions of detention)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Representative’s name and location
Facility
Start and end date
Duration
Sq. m per inmate
Specific grievances
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant
(in euros)[1]
Domestic compensation awarded (in days) based on total period calculated domestically
18357/14
04/05/2015
Mihai IANUȘCOVSCHI
10/06/1980
Focșani, Galați, Poarta Albă and Aiud Prisons
30/08/2004 to
23/07/2012
7 years and 10 months and 24 days
0.8-2.4 m²
overcrowding (save for the periods of 13/08/2010-20/10/2010, 14/06/2011-8/07/2011, 29/08/2011-5/09/2011, 20/09/2011-21/02/2012), poor quality of food, no or restricted access to shower, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to running water, inadequate temperature
5,000
414 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-17/07/2018
33226/15
29/07/2015
Graţian-Ion MURONI
03/01/1972
Timișoara Prison
21/06/2000 to
23/07/2012
12 years and 1 month and 3 days
0.2-1.33 m²
overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack or inadequate furniture, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, bunk beds, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen
5,000
234 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-16/11/2017
36424/16
19/07/2016
1875/16
08/02/2016
Gheorghe TRUŞCANU
12/02/1960
Călărași Police, Slobozia, Rahova and Poarta Albă Prisons
01/01/2011 to
23/07/2012
1 year and 6 months and 23 days
1.8-2.7 m²
overcrowding, lack of fresh air, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to potable water, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air
3,000
384 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-08/05/2018
2862/16
19/02/2016
Liviu-Crăciunel MOLDOVAN
25/12/1981
Mureș County Police, Târgu-Mureș, Jilava, Arad, Gherla, Giurgiu, Aiud, Timișoara and Bârcea Mare Prisons, Dej Prison Hospital
07/04/2001 to
23/07/2012
11 years and 3 months and 17 days
0.6 - 2 m²
overcrowding, insufficient number of sleeping places, mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen
5,000
438 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-23/01/2019
5463/16
14/03/2016
Iosif MARCU
06/06/1958
Dâmbovița County Police, Mărgineni, Ploiești, Arad and Movila Vulpii Prisons
18/02/2001 to
23/07/2012
11 years and 5 months and 6 days
1.1-2.4 m²
overcrowding, insufficient number of sleeping places, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to running water, lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to potable water, small courtyard
5,000
378 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-08/05/2018
6814/16
15/04/2016
Nicu MUTU
05/06/1979
Irina Maria Peter
Bucharest
Buzău County Police, Jilava Prison Hospital, Focșani Prison
04/02/2011 to
23/07/2012
1 year and 5 months and 20 days
1.5 - 2 m²
overcrowding, insufficient number of sleeping places, bunk beds, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food, inadequate temperature, poor quality of potable water, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air
3,000
420 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-02/05/2018
15347/16
08/02/2016
Gheorghe-Viorel ANTON
30/03/1987
Alina Gherman
Iași
Suceava County Police, Botoșani, Bacău, Rahova and Iași Prisons
31/07/2009 to 23/07/2012
2 years and 11 months and 24 days
2,2 m²
overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, no or restricted access to running water, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air, lack or inadequate furniture, inadequate temperature, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of food
3,000
372 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-31/10/2017
17753/16
04/07/2016
Dan-Ștefan MORARIU
04/02/1972
Bucharest General Police Inspectorate, Rahova, Giurgiu, Colibași, Slobozia and Tulcea Prisons
22/02/2007 to
23/07/2012
5 years and 5 months and 2 days
1.52 - 1.8 m²
overcrowding, lack of privacy for toilet (Bucharest General Police Inspectorate)
5,000
396 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-03/04/2018
31261/16
21/06/2016
Gheorghe DUMITRU
28/05/1965
Mărgineni, Ploiești and Giurgiu Prisons
16/03/2005 to
23/07/2012
7 years and 4 months and 8 days
1.33 - 1.8 m²
overcrowding, poor quality of food, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities
5,000
336 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-27/11/2017
32057/16
02/07/2016
Eduard UNGUREANU
20/05/1978
Irina Maria Peter
Bucharest
Dâmbovița Police, Mărgineni, Ploiești, Rahova and Jilava Prisons, Rahova Prison Hospital
02/03/2004 to
23/07/2012
8 years and 4 months and 22 days
1.33 -2.79 m²
overcrowding, poor quality of bedding and bed linen/food/potable water, inadequate sanitary facilities, bunk beds, insects, dirty and mouldy cell, lack of hygienic products, small and inadequate courtyard
5,000
432 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-01/11/2018
40561/16
13/08/2016
Cristian TĂNASE
25/12/1990
Irina Maria Peter
Bucharest
Bucharest General Police Inspectorate, Bucharest Police detention facility no. 15, Rahova Prison
12/05/2011 to
23/07/2012
1 year and 2 months and 12 days
1.6-2.7 m²
overcrowding (save for the period of 23/08/2011-22/12/2011), poor quality of food, lack of ventilation during summer and heating during winter, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack or inadequate furniture, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, small courtyard, lack of privacy for toilet
3,000
354 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-19/10/2017
44512/16
26/07/2016
Florin-Alexandru MICU
24/10/1988
Ionela Mărgărit
Bucharest
Rahova and Galați Prisons
22/03/2012 to
23/07/2012
4 months and 2 days
1-2 m²
overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to running water, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food, small courtyard
1,000
390 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions between 24/07/2012-05/12/2017
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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