FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 38599/20
Dănuţ CIUCIUNEA against Romania
and 2 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 16 May 2024 as a Committee composed of:
Branko Lubarda, President,
Anne Louise Bormann,
Sebastian Răduleţu, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
Joinder of the applicationsHaving regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
Complaints under Article 3 of the Convention (inadequate conditions of detention)The Government argued that the applicants had failed to exhaust the available effective remedies for the complaints about the inadequate conditions of their detention, as the action in tort had become an effective remedy for grievances similar to those of the applicants, allowing them to have the violation of the Convention acknowledged, either explicitly or in substance, and to receive adequate and sufficient compensation at domestic level. By a subsequent letter, the Government expressly referred to Vlad v. Romania (dec.), no. 122/17, 15 November 2022, and invited the Court to declare the cases inadmissible.
The Court recalls that in Polgar v. Romania, no. 39412/19, §§ 94‑96, 20 July 2021, it held that an action in tort, based on Articles 1349 and 1357 of the Romanian Civil Code, as interpreted consistently by the national courts, had represented since 13 January 2021 an effective remedy for individuals who considered that they had been subjected to inadequate conditions of detention and who were no longer held in conditions that were allegedly contrary to the Convention. Subsequently, in Vlad, cited above, §§ 24‑32, the Court considered it appropriate to apply an exception to the general principle that the effectiveness of a given remedy was to be assessed with reference to the date on which the application was lodged.
Although invited, the applicants did not inform the Court of having brought an action in tort before the Romanian courts. Therefore, for all the above reasons and in the light of all the material in its possession, since the applicants ceased to be held in conditions of detention that were allegedly contrary to the Convention after the moment when the tort action had been considered as representing an effective remedy (see, mutatis mutandis, Polgar, § 96, and Vlad, § 23, both cited above; see the appended table for further details), the Courts considers that their applications must be rejected for failure to exhaust domestic remedies, pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 6 June 2024.
{signature_p_2}
Viktoriya Maradudina Branko Lubarda
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inadequate conditions of detention)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Facility
Start and end date
Duration
38599/20
17/09/2020
Dănuț CIUCIUNEA
1979
Craiova Prison
23/12/2019 to
08/02/2024
4 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 17 day(s)
17929/21
24/05/2021
Ion-Sorin BRÎNZAN
1994
Gorj County Police Station; Craiova and Arad Prisons
24/11/2012 to
03/07/2023
10 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 10 day(s)
57781/21
04/01/2022
Robert-Cristian DĂBULEANU
1992
Oradea, Craiova, Pelendava and Drobeta‑Turnu Severin Prisons
23/12/2019 to
03/03/2022
2 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 9 day(s)