FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 71994/16
Claudiu Ioan GODGEA
against Romania
and 3 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 23 November 2023 as a Committee composed of:
Faris Vehabović, President,
Anja Seibert-Fohr,
Anne Louise Bormann, 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 and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
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 LAWJoinder of the applications
Having 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)
Having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that for the reasons stated below, the present applications are inadmissible.
The applicants complained principally of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They relied on Article 3 of the Convention.
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. The Government expressly referred to Vlad v. Romania ((dec.), no. 122/17, 15 November 2022), either directly in their observations or by a subsequent letter, 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 being 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.
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, mutate mutandis, Polgar, § 96 and Vlad, § 23, both cited above; see the appended table for further details), but did not inform the Court of having brought such an action before the domestic courts, their applications must be dismissed for failure to exhaust domestic remedies.
It follows that the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 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 14 December 2023.
{signature_p_2}
Viktoriya Maradudina Faris Vehabović
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
71994/16
27/02/2017
Claudiu Ioan GODGEA
1980
Bistriţa, Gherla and Oradea Prisons;
Jilava Hospital Prison
24/12/2019 to
23/01/2023
3 year(s) and 1 month(s)
34375/17
07/11/2017
Alexandru URZICANA
1961
Arad Prison
23/12/2019 to
31/01/2022
2 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 9 day(s)
Arad Prison
08/02/2022 to
21/03/2022
1 month(s) and 14 day(s)
8853/20
11/03/2020
Aurel COMAN
1992
Focșani, Galați and Tulcea Prisons
22/01/2019 to
24/04/2022
3 year(s) and 3 month(s) and 3 day(s)
25339/21
16/06/2021
Adrian DAVID
1987
Pelendava Prison
20/12/2019 to
22/12/2021
2 year(s) and 3 day(s)
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy