THIRD SECTION
Application no. 42720/10
Adrian Mircea GOMOI against Romania
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. The applicants are Romanian nationals, except for Mr Besli (application no. 43309/12) who is a Turkish national. More information regarding the applicants and their representatives can be found in the appendix below.
2. The relevant facts of the cases, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
A. Application no. 42720/10
3. From 10 May 2010 to 8 June 2010, the applicant was detained at the Arad County Police Inspectorate for a period of twenty-nine days. According to the applicant, he shared a cell measuring twelve square metres with three other people. The toilet consisted of a bucket. His access to the toilet was provided twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and only for ten minutes. During the day, the arrestees benefited from only one hour of walking and one hour of TV watching. Their bathing was allowed only twice a week for five minutes. The applicant was given food that was improper to consumption.
4. From 8 June 2010 to 14 December 2010, the applicant was detained in the Arad Penitentiary. According to the applicant, he was placed in a cell of sixteen square metres shared by five inmates. The cell was infested with bed bugs and cockroaches. The applicant did not receive enough food. The detainees’ transportation to the court was made with a minivan that lacked enough air for breathing, in which forty people were seated on benches.
5. The applicant was released on 14 December 2010.
B. Application no. 17000/12
6. On 1 March 2010, the Ploiesti Court of Appeal sentenced the applicant to five years and six months’ imprisonment.
7. From 8 to 13 December 2011, the applicant was detained in Bucharest Police Section no. 12 in room no. 5. The applicant alleged that he was subjected to inhuman conditions of detention. According to the applicant, he had to share a small cell measuring 6.25 square metres with four inmates. The cell lacked natural light or ventilation and no heating was provided in winter. The toilet lacked toilet seat and water had to be poured from the sink into the toilet. There was no hot water and in winter the inmates had to wash themselves with cold water.
8. From 13 December 2011 to 23 January 2012, the applicant was detained in the Rahova Penitentiary. According to the applicant, he had to share a cell measuring 20.16 square metres with eight inmates. The cell had barred windows of 1.68 square metres which could not properly be closed. The mattresses were filled with rags and very used, having a bad smell.
9. From 23 January 2012 to 31 January 2012, the applicant was detained in the Mǎrgineni Penitentiary in room no. 18. He was imprisoned in a cell of 8 square metres shared by twenty-three inmates. The applicant had no continuous cold water and no natural light. The daily walk took place in a metallic-barred cage measuring 40-60 square metres, together with twenty‑thirty detainees, most of them convicted for violent criminal offences.
10. The applicant alleged that the food he was provided in the Rahova and Mǎrgineni Penitentiaries was not respectful to his Muslim conviction.
C. Application no. 27583/12
11. The applicant was sentenced to three years and eight months’ imprisonment.
12. The applicant serves his prison sentence in Timişoara Penitentiary. According to the applicant, he shared a cell measuring 15.36 square metres and 3 metres high with nine detainees. In the room there were temperatures as high as 40oC. The cell was infested with bed bugs and cockroaches.
D. Application no. 43309/12
13. On 13 April 2012, the High Court of Cassation and Justice sentenced the applicant to twelve years’ imprisonment for drugs trafficking.
14. The applicant has been detained in the Rahova Penitentiary since 13 May 2010 until present. According to the applicant, he shares a cell measuring 19.25 square metres and 2 metres high with eight detainees. The cell lacked natural light and ventilation and there was not enough artificial light.
COMPLAINT
15. The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention of the inhuman or degrading treatment caused by their conditions of detention during their imprisonment in the different Romanian penitentiaries where they were or continue to be detained.
QUESTION
Have the applicants been subjected, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, to inhuman or degrading treatment during their imprisonment in the different Romanian penitentiaries where they were or continue to be detained?
The Romanian Government are invited to provide information on the applicants’ conditions of detention in the different Romanian penitentiaries where they were or are detained, 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;
(e) the frequency with which the applicants are being taken out for walks outside their cells.
As regards application no. 43309/12, the Romanian Government are also invited to provide information on the applicant’s eventual possibility in the Rahova and Mǎrgineni Penitentiaries to get food according to his Muslim religious convictions.
APPENDIX
1. 42720/10GOMOI v. Romania
2. 17000/12MOCANU v. Romania
3. 27583/12NICA v. Romania
4. 43309/12BESLI v. Romania
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