THIRD SECTION
CASE OF BARANOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Application no. 60993/16 and 6 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
8 February 2018
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Baranov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Luis López Guerra, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 18 January 2018,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Russia 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 applications were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).
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 of the inadequate conditions of their detention. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER 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.
II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION
6. The applicants complained principally 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 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, Kudła v. Poland [GC], no. 30210/96, §§ 90‑94, ECHR 2000‑XI, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 139‑165, 10 January 2012). It reiterates in particular that extreme lack of space in a prison cell or overcrowding weighs heavily as an aspect to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the impugned detention conditions were “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see, amongst many authorities, Karalevičius v. Lithuania, no. 53254/99, §§ 36‑40, 7 April 2005).
8. In the leading case of Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, no. 5993/08, 28 November 2013, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
9. 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.
10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention insofar as they are described in the appended table.
III. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW
11. In applications nos. 64049/16, 70695/16 and 4725/17, the applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its findings in Sergey Babushkin, cited above, §§ 38-45, regarding the absence of effective domestic remedies to complain about the poor conditions of detention.
IV. REMAINING COMPLAINTS
12. In applications nos. 60993/16, 70695/16 and 2704/17, the applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.
13. The Court has examined the applications listed in the appended table and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.
It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
V. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
14. 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.”
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, (just satisfaction), no. 5993/08, 16 October 2014 and Mozharov and Others v. Russia, no. 16401/12 and 9 others, 21 March 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
16. 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,
1. Decides to join the applications;
2. Declares the complaints concerning the inadequate conditions of detention and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of the applications nos. 60993/16, 70695/16 and 2704/17 inadmissible;
3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention;
4. Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention as regards the other complaints raised under well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table);
5. 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 8 February 2018, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtLuis López Guerra
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 name
Date of birth
Facility
Start and end date
Duration
Inmates per brigade
Sq. m. per inmate
Number of toilets per brigade
Specific grievances
Other complaints under
well-established case-law
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[i]
60993/16
30/11/2016
Vitaliy Aleksandrovich Baranov
23/09/1978
IK-11 Nizhny Novgorod Region
25/02/2013
Pending.
More than 4 year(s)
and 9 month(s) and 24 day(s)
60 inmate(s)
1.5 m²
Overcrowding, lack or insufficient quantity of food, poor quality of food, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, lack of or insufficient electric light.
8,300
63314/16
22/12/2016
Kirill Yevgenyevich Utenkov
05/08/1979
IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region
22/08/2011
Pending.
More than 6 year(s)
and 3 month(s) and 27 day(s)
2 m²
Infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food.
8,000
64049/16
21/12/2016
Andrey Anatolyevich Stepanov
28/11/1975
IK-2 Zabaykalsky Region
25/06/2007 to
18/08/2016
9 year(s)
and 1 month(s) and 25 day(s)
180 inmate(s)
1.6-2.2 m²
No or restricted access to running water, no or restricted access to warm water, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light.
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention.
5,000
70695/16
13/09/2016
Andrey Nikolayevich Kuznetsov
21/03/1963
IK-29 Kirov Region
27/12/2015 to
18/05/2016
4 month(s) and 22 day(s)
18 inmate(s)
1.6 m²
Overcrowding, no or restricted access to shower, outside toilet, poor quality of food, poor quality of potable water.
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention.
2,500
1014/17
06/12/2016
Arkadiy Vladimirovich Zazeryavskiy
15/07/1987
IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod region Unit 5 Section 1
27/11/2012 to 21/03/2017
4 year(s)
and 3 month(s) and 23 day(s)
2 m²
Infestation of cell with insects/rodents, sharing cells with inmates infected with contagious disease, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities.
6,000
2704/17
25/12/2016
Sergey Anatolyevich Sumarokov
20/08/1978
IK-1, Arkhangelsk Region
24/01/2013 to
11/03/2017
4 year(s)
and 1 month(s) and 16 day(s)
1.5 m²
Overcrowding
5,800
4725/17
04/12/2016
Dmitriy Vladimirovich Tatarintsev
16/09/1984
IK-11 the Nizhniy Novgorod Region (УЗ-62/11)
26/03/2012 to
26/09/2016
4 year(s)
and 6 month(s) and 1 day(s)
IK-11 the Nizhniy Novgorod Region (УЗ-62/11)
17/10/2016 to
22/11/2016
1 month(s) and 6 day(s)
140 inmate(s)
1.9 m²
8 toilet(s)
140 inmate(s)
1.9 m²
8 toilet(s)
Overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities.
Overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities.
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention.
5,000
[i] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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