THIRD SECTION
CASE OF CHIBOTAR AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 72221/11 and 9 others - see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
12 October 2017
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Chibotar 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 21 September 2017,
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 under Article 3 of the Convention of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They 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.
III. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW
11. The applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, in accordance with 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 Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, §§ 103‑108, 22 May 2012 and Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, no. 5993/08, §§ 38-45, 28 November 2013.
IV. REMAINING COMPLAINTS
12. In application no. 47129/16, the applicant also raised a complaint under Article 3 of the Convention regarding the conditions of his detention in SIZO-1 in the town of Tomsk from 19 August 2015 to 3 February 2016.
13. The Court has examined the application and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matter complained of is within its competence, this complaint either does not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or does 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 application 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 application no. 47129/16 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 12 October 2017, 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
Number of inmates per brigade
Sq. m. per inmate
Number of toilets per brigade
Specific grievances
Domestic award (in euros)
Other complaints under well-established case-law
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses
per applicant
(in euros)[1]
72221/11
15/12/2009
Andrey Viktorovich Chibotar
28/05/1984
IK-10 Yekaterinburg
04/04/2011 to
20/11/2012
1 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 17 day(s)
207 inmate(s)
1.9 m²
7 toilet(s)
12 sinks, lack of privacy in toilet, walks for 5-6 times a day for 15 minutes each in a yard of 40 sq.m., inmates infected with tuberculosis
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
7,000
433/13
19/11/2012
Viktor Ivanovich Samoylov
20/08/1965
IK-7 Valuyki Belgorod Region
28/12/2006 to
13/04/2015
8 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 17 day(s)
230 inmate(s)
1.3 m²
4 toilet(s)
poor food quality, dim electric light on 24/7, poor quality of bed linen and bedding, three urinals and one functioning sink, no hot water, regular cold water cut-off, weekly shower for 5 min. with 5 shower heads, small walking yard, toilet without flushing system, lack of fresh air and ventilation, damp premises
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
12,300
51988/14
04/07/2014
Sergey Grigoryevich Onishchenko
15/10/1964
IK-30 Kungur Perm Region
15/12/2011 to
15/04/2014
2 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 1 day(s)
130 inmate(s)
1.5 m²
8 toilet(s)
6 sinks, no hot water, no ventilation, lack of natural light, dim electric light, small walking yard of 6 sq.m., weekly shower with 10 shower heads/an hour, poor food quality
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
5,000
52515/14
16/12/2014
Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich Okhotin
11/09/1978
IK-20 Lukoyanov Nizhniy Novgorod Region
24/07/2012 to
08/12/2014
2 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 15 day(s)
200 inmate(s)
1.6 m²
4 toilet(s)
7 sinks, one urinal of 2.5 m., insufficient number of rooms for long visits – 9 rooms
66 euro
judgment of the Lukoyanovskiy District Court of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region dated 21/01/2014
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
4,900
53236/14
01/07/2014
Amangeldy Sebepovich Telyubayev
03/05/1977
IK-2/1 Solikamsk (transit cells) Perm Region
17/02/2014 to
25/02/2014
9 day(s)
IK-2/1 Solikamsk Perm Region
31/03/2014 to
07/04/2014
8 day(s)
2.2 m²
2.2 m²
not provided with an individual sleeping place, no ventilation, inadequate separation of squat toilet from the living area, dinner table in 1.7 m. from toilet, distance of 48 cm between sleeping places, poor condition of bedding, toiletries not provided, infestation with mice and bedbugs
not provided with an individual sleeping place and had to share one with inmates, no ventilation, inadequate separation of squat toilet from the living area, dinner table in 1.7 m. from toilet, distance of 48 cm between sleeping places, poor condition of bedding, toiletries not provided, infestation with mice and bedbugs
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
1,000
53537/14
11/07/2014
Roman Nikolayevich Girlya
11/10/1969
IK-30 Kungur Perm Region
25/02/2012 to
21/02/2014
1 year(s) and
11 month(s) and
28 day(s)
130 inmate(s)
1.5 m²
8 toilet(s)
6 sinks, no hot water, no ventilation, lack of natural light, dim electric light, small walking yard of 6 sq.m., weekly shower for the brigade with 14 shower heads/an hour, poor food quality
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
5,000
63426/14
22/08/2014
Ural Sabiryanovich Khafizov
21/06/1970
IK-22 Kushmangort Perm Region
29/11/2012 to
30/03/2014
1 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 2 day(s)
overcrowding, lack of heating in autumn and winter, labour premises daily filled with smudge
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
5,000
47129/16
27/07/2016
Dmitriy Sergeyevich Medvedev
05/07/1981
IK-29 Primoskiy Krai
21/04/2016
pending
More than 1 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 8 day(s)
106 inmate(s)
1.7 m²
overcrowding, no or restricted access to running water, poor quality of food
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
6,300
49719/16
25/07/2016
Artur Igorevich Ignatovich
07/04/1982
IK-3 St Petersburg
19/05/2016
pending
More than 1 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 10 day(s)
300 inmate(s)
3 toilet(s)
overcrowding, no or restricted access to toilet
Art. 3 - inadequate conditions of detention during transport,
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention
7,800
1695/17
07/02/2017
Aleksandr Gennadyevich Bastrikov
09/08/1977
FKU IK-2 Shara-Gorokhon Zabaykalskiy Region
20/02/2014
pending
More than 3 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 9 day(s)
180 inmate(s)
1.6 m²
overcrowding, lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to shower, 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
6,800
[1]. Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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