Communicated on 18 December 2013
THIRD SECTION
Applications nos. 53104/11 and 55662/13
Anesti ELEFTERIADIS against Romania
and Bela TOTHPAL against Romania
lodged on 17 August 2011
and 14 August 2013 respectively
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. The applicants are Romanian nationals. More information regarding the applicants can be found in the appendix below.
2. The relevant facts of the cases, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
1. Application no. 53104/11
3. On 11 January 1992, the applicant was sentenced to life imprisonment. Since that date he has been detained in different penitentiaries in Romania.
4. According to the information provided by the applicant, at the time he lodged his application before the Court, he was serving his prison sentence in Focşani Penitentiary, where he had to share a cell of nineteen square meters, one shower, one bathroom and one sink with twelve other detainees. He did not receive fresh fruits and he did not have access to the sport facility on a regular basis.
5. According to the applicant, his transfers from one penitentiary to another are performed in inhuman conditions. They start at 6:30 a.m. and last until 11 p.m. or later. First, he needs to wait three or four hours in a disaffected bathroom where there are no benches; then, he has to wait another three or four hours in a room without any heating, which affects his health (the applicant suffers from spinal column disease and from hepatic-renal disease). The transport with the minivan lasts seven or eight hours; then, he has to wait two or three hours in “filters” (spaces in the penitentiary). That leads to his exhaustion.
6. Sometimes, in order to get transferred from one penitentiary to another, he is taken out of his cell during the night (at 1 or 2 a.m.) and is transported on deviated routes, by making a detour to other penitentiaries in order to pick up other detainees. This adds hundreds of kilometres until the final destination, which leads to the detainees’ extenuation.
2. Application no. 55662/13
7. On 20 February 2013, the Timişoara Court of Appeal sentenced the applicant to three years’ imprisonment.
8. On 22 February 2013, the applicant was arrested and detained in the Arad Police Inspectorate. For a period of four days he had to share the cell with three smokers. He had to use a bucket as toilet.
9. After four days, the applicant was transferred to the Arad Penitentiary. The applicant was detained there for a period of one month. His cell was infested with bed bugs.
10. The applicant is currently held in the Timişoara Penitentiary. He shares a cell of twelve square meters with other eight inmates, which amounts to 1.3 square meters per person. The cell comprises also three beds, a long table, a smaller table and two chairs. The applicants and his cellmates have to eat in turns at the table. There are bed bugs in the room and the courtyard is filled with rats. Hot water is provided two hours per day from Monday to Saturday (being unavailable on Sunday). The food is of poor quality and does not contain meat.
COMPLAINTS
11. The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention of the inhuman or degrading treatment caused by the conditions of their detention in different Romanian penitentiaries where they were or continue to be detained.
12. In addition, in application no. 53104/11, the applicant complains under the same article of the conditions of his transfers from one penitentiary to another.
Common QUESTION
Have the applicants been subjected, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, to inhuman or degrading treatment because of their conditions of detention in the different Romanian penitentiaries where they were or continue to be detained?
The Government are invited to provide information on the applicants’ conditions of detention, in particular in connection with:
(a) the material conditions of the applicants’ cells (their size, the number of beds and the number of persons being detained in the same cell with the applicants) ;
(b) the sanitary installation available in the cells;
(c) the measures taken to ensure the hygiene in the cells;
(d) the quality and quantity of food made available to the applicants.
For application no. 53104/11, the answers to the question above should be limited to the Focşani Penitentiary only.
Specific question for application no. 53104/11
Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, having regard to his transfers from one penitentiary to another?
The Government are invited to provide information on the dates, frequency, purpose and circumstances of the applicant’s transfers from one penitentiary to another.
APPENDIX
No.
Application
no.
Lodged on
Applicant name
date of birth
place of residence
Represented by
53104/11
17/08/2011
Anesti ELEFTERIADIS
14/04/1966
Constanţa
N/A
55662/13
14/08/2013
Bela TOTHPAL
15/05/1966
Cluj-Napoca
N/A
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy