FOURTH SECTION
CASE OF CAZAN AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA
(Application no. 53702/15 and 11 other applications -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
12 July 2018
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Cazan and Others v. Romania,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Vincent A. De Gaetano, President,
Georges Ravarani,
Marko Bošnjak, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 21 June 2018,
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 applications were communicated to the Romanian 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.
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 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. In application no. 12916/16, the Government raised a preliminary objection of failure to comply with the six-month time-limit, alleging that the applicant’s complaint concerning his initial period of detention in Jilava, Giurgiu and Găești Prisons had been lodged out of time.
8. The Court observes that the applicant’s complaint concerning the initial period of his detention in the above prison facilities, which ceased on 12 August 2015 by his transfer to another prison facility in respect of which he did not raise any complaint, was lodged with the Court on 18 May 2016, that is, more than six months after the transfer.
9. Therefore, the Court accepts the Government’s objection and finds that this part of the application no. 12916/16 was lodged outside of the six‑month time-limit and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
10. 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).
11. 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 cases.
12. Having examined all the material submitted to it, as well as the Government’s objection concerning the application of the six-month rule to the continuous situation of the applicants’ conditions of detention in applications nos. 1478/16, 19325/16, 20182/16, 21633/16, 23497/16, 31945/16, and 36659/16, 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 cases the applicants’ conditions of detention were inadequate.
13. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.
III. 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, 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.
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 as set out in the appended table, admissible and the remainder of the application no. 12916/16, concerning the applicant’s detention period which ended on 12 August 2015, inadmissible;
3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention;
4. 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 12 July 2018, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtVincent A. De Gaetano
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
Sq. m. per inmate
Specific grievances
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant
(in euros)[1]
53702/15
07/12/2015
Călin Cazan
12/03/1973
Bucharest Police Section no. 15
12/06/2013 to
02/07/2013
21 days
Rahova Prison
02/07/2013 to
01/08/2013
1 month
Aiud Prison
01/08/2013 to
19/05/2016
2 years and 9 months and 19 days
4.13 m²
1.95-3.26 m²
2.6-3.01 m²
Lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack or insufficient quantity of food, lack of privacy for toilet
Overcrowding (save for the period from 23/07/2013 to 01/08/2013), lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack of privacy for toilet
Overcrowding (save for the period from 16/06/2015 to 14/08/2015), lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light
3,000
1478/16
02/03/2016
Teodor Tănase
01/12/1970
Bucharest Police Section no. 16 and Jilava, Poarta Albă, Gherla, Bistrița, Baia Mare, Timișoara, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Găești, and Ploiești Prisons,
Jilava and Poarta Albă Prison Hospitals
21/09/1998 to
10/01/2017
18 years and
3 months and
21 days
1.26-3.91 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 05/05/2004 to 08/07/2004 in Poarta Albă Prison Hospital, from 28/12/2006 to 07/04/2009 in Gherla Prison and from 18/04/2013 to 17/10/2013 in Găești Prison), no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, lack of fresh air, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or insufficient natural light, poor quality of food, poor quality of potable water, inadequate temperature, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air
5,000
1874/16
09/05/2016
Ionuț Ciucă
29/01/1981
Represented by
Irina Maria Peter,
Bucharest
Bucharest Central Arrest
27/07/2002 to
10/08/2002
15 days
Jilava, Giurgiu, Mărgineni, Galați, Colibași, Brăila and Tulcea Prisons
10/09/2002
pending
More than 15 years and 8 months and
23 days
1.6 m²
1.3-
3.39 m²
Overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 19/02/2012 to 23/08/2012 in Giurgiu Prison), infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, inadequate temperature, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to potable water
5,000
12916/16
18/05/2016
Fănel Docuţă
21/06/1974
Alexandria Police and Giurgiu, Jilava and Găești Prisons
29/12/2015 to
19/04/2017
1 year and 3 months and 22 days
1.07-3.18 m²
Overcrowding (save for the period from 27/06/2016 to 16/02/2017 in Găești Prison), lack of privacy for toilet, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to shower, poor quality of food, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to toilet, lack of fresh air
3,000
19325/16
04/05/2016
Dumitru Ifrim
25/10/1969
Bucarest Police Section no. 12, Rahova, Târgu Jiu, Jilava Prisons
07/04/2015 to
23/02/2017
1 year and
10 months and
17 days
1.67-4.90 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 28/07/2015 to 16/02/2016 in Rahova Prison), poor quality of food, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air
3,000
19872/16
06/06/2016
Vasile Alecu
05/09/1969
Jilava Prison Hospital
23/09/2012 to
26/07/2016
3 years and
10 months and
4 days
2.65 -9.20 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 01/10/2012 to 02/09/2013, from 25/11/2013 to 06/12/2013 and from 04/08/2015 to 26/07/2016 in Jilava Prison Hospital), infestation of cell with insects/rodents, bunk beds, inadequate temperature, lack of fresh air, constant electric light, lack or inadequate furniture, lack or insufficient quantity of food
3,000
20182/16
18/05/2016
Nicolae Eftimie
29/08/1982
Bucharest Police Sections nos. 12 and 13
Jilava, Giurgiu, Rahova, Găești, Prisons
Jilava and Colibași Prison Hospitals
04/07/2007 to
08/03/2017
9 years and 8 months and 5 days
1.12-16.07 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 01/03/2010 to 10/03/2010, from 20/05/2011 to 26/05/2011, from 10/10/2011 to 17/11/2011, from 05/06/2012 to 20/06/2012 and from 19/05/2016 to 26/05/2016 in Jilava Prison Hospital and from 14/10/2015 to 17/03/2016 in Găești Prison), no or restricted access to toilet, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to warm water, inadequate temperature, mouldy or dirty cell, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or insufficient electric light, poor quality of food, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to potable water,
5,000
21633/16
22/06/2016
Viorel Istodor
04/01/1978
Represented by
Irina Maria Peter,
Bucharest
Drobeta Turnu Severin, Craiova, Aiud and Jilava Prisons
26/09/2001 to
23/08/2016
14 years and
10 months and
29 days
1 -3.2 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 29/03/2012 to 06/09/2012 in Aiud Prison), inadequate temperature, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, lack or inadequate furniture, poor quality of food
5,000
23222/16
16/05/2016
Alexandru-Traian
Zaharia
09/11/1987
Codlea Prison
28/10/2015 to 07/12/2016
1 year and
2 months and
1 day
Bunk beds, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack or inadequate furniture, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower
3,000
23497/16
22/04/2016
Dumitrel Motică
14/01/1981
Slobozia, Poarta Albă, Tulcea, Giurgiu and Arad Prisons
02/08/2007 to
25/07/2017
9 years and
11 months and
24 days
1.44-
9.00 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 17/10/2013 to 24/11/2014 in Tulcea Prison and from 27/11/2014 to 06/07/2015 in Giurgiu Prison and from 25/09/2015 to 19/01/2017 in Arad Prison), mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, bunk beds, inadequate temperature, lack of privacy for toilet
5,000
31945/16
07/07/2016
Marian Parolea
20/02/1970
Represented by
Irina Maria Peter,
Bucharest
Teleorman Police, Giurgiu and Jilava Prisons
17/01/2014 to
22/08/2017
3 years and 7 months and 6 days
1.72-5.10 m²
Overcrowding (save of the period from 03/06/2015 to 23/12/2015 in Giurgiu Prison), inadequate temperature, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of food, lack or inadequate furniture, poor quality of potable water
3,000
36659/16
14/07/2016
Alexandr Strutinschi
05/05/1981
Represented by
Irina Maria Peter,
Bucharest
Bucharest Police Sections nos. 4, 12 and 22, Bucharest Central Arrest, Rahova Prison
15/11/2015 to
12/12/2016
1 year and 28 days
1.96-6.52 m²
Overcrowding (save for the periods from 15/11/2015 to 07/12/2015 in Bucharest Police Section no. 4 and from 16/06/2016 to 12/12/2016 in Rahova Prison), lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, inadequate temperature, lack of privacy for toilet, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food, lack or inadequate furniture
3,000
[1]. Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy