THIRD SECTION
CASE OF V.P. AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 33140/15 and 38 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
7 November 2024
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of V.P. and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Ioannis Ktistakis, President,
Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir,
Diana Kovatcheva, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 10 October 2024,
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 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 that, as “outcast” inmates, they faced a risk of treatment prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention due to segregation, humiliating practices, and abuse in their daily lives while in detention. They highlighted the heightened risk of inter-prisoner violence due to prison hierarchy, the authorities’ failure to address that risk, and the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law. Some applicants raised additional complaints under the Convention, stemming from the same set of facts.
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.
Jurisdiction6. The Court observes that the facts giving rise to the alleged violations of the Convention occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the Convention. The Court therefore decides that it has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Fedotova and Others v. Russia [GC], nos. 40792/10 and 2 others, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023).
ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLEs 3 AND 13 of the Convention7. The applicants complained of inhuman and degrading treatment in Russian penal facilities due to their inferior position within an informal prisoner hierarchy and the alleged lack of effective domestic remedies for their complaints in that regard. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention.
8. In the leading cases of S.P. and Others v. Russia (nos. 36463/11 and 10 others, 2 May 2023) and D v. Latvia (no. 76680/17, 11 January 2024), the Court already found violations of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention in respect of issues similar to those in the present case. The Court held that the physical and symbolic separation of “outcast” prisoners, coupled with restricted access to basic prison resources and denial of human contact, caused mental anxiety exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention, even when they were not subjected to physical violence or threats of violence (see S.P. and Others, cited above, § 96, and D v. Latvia, cited above, § 51). It also found that the domestic authorities had not taken adequate steps to protect the applicants from the treatment associated with their belonging to the stigmatised group or implemented effective mechanisms to improve their situation or address the issue comprehensively.
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. It finds that the applicants belonged to the stigmatised group of prisoners and endured degrading treatment on that account. They also did not have access to an effective remedy in respect of these complaints.
10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention.
REMAINING COMPLAINTS11. In the light of its findings concerning the applicants’ complaints under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention, the Court takes the view that it has examined the main legal question raised in respect of their situation and does not need to give a separate ruling on the admissibility or merits of the remaining complaints (see, for a similar approach, Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848/08, § 156, ECHR 2014).
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION12. Regard being had to the material in its possession and to its case‑law (see S.P. and Others, cited above, § 114), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table and dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Decides to join the applications;Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with these applications as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022;Declares the complaints under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention admissible and decides that there is no need to examine the remainder of the complaints;Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention; 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;
Dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.Done in English, and notified in writing on 7 November 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Ioannis Ktistakis
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inhuman and degrading treatment of outcast inmates as a result of segregation, humiliating practices and abuse in their daily life while in detention, heightened risk of inter-prisoner violence (prison hierarchy))
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s initials
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Facility
Start and end date
Other complaints under well-established case-law
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant
(in euros)[1]
33140/15
20/01/2016
V.P.
1963
Valentina Aleksandrovna BOKAREVA
Moscow
IK-2 Zabaykalskiy Region
12/02/2011 - date of introduction
20,000
44449/15
25/08/2015
V.O.
1986
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
19/02/2012 - 08/06/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
46378/15
07/09/2015
A.S.
1978
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-7 Kostroma Region
22/05/2007 - 16/07/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
46694/15
04/09/2015
M.S.
1982
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
05/11/2013 - 10/06/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
59230/15
09/11/2015
D.Y.
1992
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-2 Kostroma Region
14/08/2011 - 23/06/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
59743/15
09/11/2015
D.Z.
1984
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
14/01/2015 - 09/09/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
60150/15
09/11/2015
A.B.
1981
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
25/09/2014 - 31/08/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
60284/15
09/11/2015
V.K.
1990
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-2 Kostroma Region
08/02/2010 - 26/08/2015
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
41181/16
04/07/2016
S.Y.
1979
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
06/11/1998 - at least until the date of introduction
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
61978/16
18/10/2016
V.K.
1986
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
29/01/2016 - 06/09/2016
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
78399/16
29/11/2016
Y.M.
1975
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
28/01/2014 - 25/11/2016
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
51807/17
04/07/2017
T.R.
1991
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-4 Kostroma Region
15/02/2014 - 30/06/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
71029/17
15/09/2017
A.C.
1982
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-4 Kostroma Region
07/07/2013 - 01/09/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
71326/17
12/09/2017
I.S.
1993
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-2 Kostroma Region
01/05/2017 - 31/08/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
78092/17
21/12/2017
A.B.
1969
Laptev Aleksey Nikolayevich
Moscow
IK-11 Nizhniy Novgorod Region
03/10/2011 - 03/10/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79222/17
10/11/2017
A.A.
1984
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
28/12/2016 - 27/09/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79233/17
10/11/2017
G.O.
1980
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
02/11/2015 - 01/11/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79770/17
08/11/2017
S.S.
1987
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
26/07/2013 - 24/10/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79772/17
08/11/2017
M.G.
1981
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
19/05/2016 - 18/08/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79775/17
08/11/2017
A.G.
1983
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
12/05/2008 - 25/07/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79776/17
08/11/2017
S.Z.
1991
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
20/06/2016 - 19/07/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
79951/17
14/11/2017
A.C.
1990
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
22/06/2014 - 20/10/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
80357/17
17/11/2017
A.G.
1988
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
18/01/2000 - 17/11/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
80725/17
21/11/2017
A.I.
1984
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
28/02/2014 - 25/08/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
82160/17
28/11/2017
A.K.
1984
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
15/09/2015 - 14/11/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
83674/17
21/11/2017
V.B.
1986
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-5 Tatarstan
2007 – the end of 2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
84167/17
08/12/2017
V.K.
1986
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
08/12/2015 - 05/12/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
1135/18
12/12/2017
S.M.
1975
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-4 Kostroma Region
17/01/2012 - 21/11/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
4506/18
23/12/2017
R.S.
1988
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
23/06/2003 - 22/12/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
4512/18
23/12/2017
A.V.
1976
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
20/06/2016 - 14/12/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
6766/18
17/01/2018
M.S.
1988
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-4 Kostroma Region
10/03/2016 - 19/12/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
9879/18
12/02/2018
A.K.
1980
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
06/09/2014 - 29/12/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
9930/18
30/01/2018
D.M.
1991
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
31/08/2016 - 30/01/2018
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
10168/18
12/02/2018
D.S.
1993
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-2 Kostroma Region
16/09/2016 - 15/09/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
10174/18
12/02/2018
D.S.
1979
Aleksandr Vladimirovich VINOGRADOV
Kostroma
IK-1 Kostroma
11/02/2016 - 09/02/2018
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
11538/18
24/01/2018
D.P.
1972
Yekaterina Viktorovna YEFREMOVA
Moscow
IK-5 Krasnoyarsk Region
01/07/2016 - 27/09/2017
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
13569/18
31/01/2018
S.S.
1981
Oksana Vladimirovna PREOBRAZHENSKAYA
Strasbourg
IK-5 Krasnoyarsk Region
2014 - at least until the date of introduction
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
8587/19
21/01/2019
G.B.
1986
IK-41 Kemerovo Region
24/05/2017 - 24/11/2018
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
9293/19
10/01/2019
Y.P.
1980
IK-41 Kemerovo Region
20/02/2018 - 19/11/2018
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
20,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.