THIRD SECTION
CASE OF CHUDINOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 71295/17 and 4 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
13 October 2022
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Chudinov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Andreas Zünd,
Frédéric Krenc, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 15 September 2022,
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 Russian 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 of the inadequate conditions of detention during their transport. They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS5. 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 CONVENTION6. The applicants complained principally of the inadequate conditions of their detention during their transport. 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 detained in poor conditions during transport. The details of the applicants’ transport are indicated in the appended table. The Court refers to the principles established in its case‑law regarding cramped and defective conditions in the detention and transit of prisoners (see, for instance, Khudoyorov v. Russia, no. 6847/02, §§ 118‑120, ECHR 2005 X (extracts), and Starokadomskiy v. Russia, no. 42239/02, §§ 53‑60, 31 July 2008). It reiterates in particular that extreme lack of space 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 Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 122‑141, ECHR 2016, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149‑159, 10 January 2012).
8. In the leading cases of Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, §§ 103-08, 22 May 2012 and Tomov and Others v. Russia, nos. 18255/10 and 5 others, 9 April 2019, 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 during their transport were inadequate.
10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.
OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW11. In applications nos. 71295/17, 78210/17 and 38336/19, 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 Tomov and Others, cited above, §§ 143-156, as regards the lack of effective remedies in respect of conditions of transport, and Shlykov and Others v. Russia, nos. 78638/11 and 3 others, §§ 69-93, 19 January 2021, as regards routine handcuffing of life prisoners.
REMAINING COMPLAINTS12. 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.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION14. 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, Pukhachev and Zaretskiy v. Russia, nos. 17494/16 and 29203/16, 16 November 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
16. The Court further 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 during transport 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 inadmissible;Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention during transport;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);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 during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 13 October 2022, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inadequate conditions of detention during transport)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Means of transport
Start and end date
Sq. m per inmate
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)[1]
71295/17
04/09/2017
Eduard Vladimirovich CHUDINOV
1969
Preobrazhenskaya Oksana Vladimirovna
Strasbourg
van
03/09/2017 to
26/09/2017
0.5 m²
While being transported in a van, the applicant had no access to toilet and was provided with some 0.5 sq. m. of personal space. The applicant spent over 200 hours during transport in prison trains in the following conditions: inadequate bedding, no bed linen provided, lack of personal space (0.5 sq. m. per inmate), no electric or natural light, restricted access to toilet (2-3 times per day), lack of privacy for toilet (under the guards’ watch).
Art. 3 - torture or inhuman or degrading treatment - the applicant, a lifer, complained that he was handcuffed each time he left the cell, IK-56 Sverdlovsk Region, 26/08/2009 to 03/09/2017.
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport.
1,000
78210/17
10/10/2017
Roman Sergeyevich KALININ
1984
Anna Maralyan
Strasbourg
van
03/09/2017 to
26/09/2017
0.5 m²
While transported in a van, the applicant had no access to toilet and was provided with some 0.5 sq. m. of personal space. The applicant spent over 200 hours during transport in prison trains in the following conditions: inadequate bedding, no bed linen provided, lack of personal space (0.5 sq. m. per inmate), no electric or natural light, restricted access to toilet (2‑3 times per day), lack of privacy for toilet (under the guards’ watch).
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport.
1,000
21401/18
09/04/2018
Aleksey Sergeyevich SHATALOV
1983
Yekaterina Viktorovna Yefremova
Moscow
train, van
11/11/2017 to
08/12/2017
1 m2, 0,75 m2
lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack or insufficient quantity of food, no or restricted access to potable water, no or restricted access to toilet, transported on multiple occasions, overcrowding (during transport and in transit cell).
1,000
30453/19
07/05/2019
Roman Mikhaylovich SHASHKOV
1963
Oksana Vladimirovna Preobrazhenskaya
Strasbourg
A single-prisoner cubicle (“stakan”)
30/07/2018 to
19/11/2018
0,3 m²
lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, passive smoking.
1,000
38336/19
02/07/2019
Vladislav Vitalyevich LUNEV
1981
Mira Tazhidinovna Luneva God
Stavropol
train, van
07/12/2018 to
17/01/2019
passive smoking, overcrowding (in particular, transported with 12 inmates in a van for 7 inmates), poor quality of food.
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport.
1,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.