Communicated on 17 November 2014
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 32447/10
Zbigniew ŁUKASZEWICZ
against Poland
lodged on 10 May 2010
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Zbigniew Łukaszewicz, is a Polish national, who was born in 1977 and lives in Białystok.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 18 December 1995 the Białystok Regional Court convicted the applicant of murder and sentenced him to twelve years’ imprisonment. He served this sentence from 1996 until 2004 when he was released on probation.
The applicant was again arrested on 7 May 2008 having been searched with a European Arrest Warrant. He was indicted on charges of battery and, simultaneously, he was placed in the Białystok Prison to continue serving the sentence of imprisonment ordered in 1995.
The applicant remained in the Białystok Prison between 7 May 2008 and 4 February 2009. During this period he received twenty-five visits from his family – his mother, wife and son born in 2006.
On 4 February 2009 the applicant was transferred to the Kamińsk prison.
On several occasions the applicant requested the prison authorities to be transferred to a prison located closer to his home.
However, the Director of the Kamińsk Prison on each occasion refused his request. In particular, his requests were dismissed on 5 August 2010, 4 February and 20 December 2011.
On 15 June 2010 the Director of the Regional Prison Inspectorate replied to his complaints and dismissed them. The Director stated that it had not been possible to transfer the applicant as other prisons had been overcrowded.
The applicant also complained to the Obudsman and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw.
On 30 August 2012 the applicant was released.
On 9 June 2011 the Białystok Regional Court ordered the applicant’s divorce. The court further limited the parental authority of the applicant, and his former wife, over the couple’s child G., who was placed in the foster family of the applicant’s mother.
B. Relevant domestic law
Article 100 of the Code of Execution of Criminal Sentences (Kodeks karny wykonawczy – “the Code”) provided:
“The convicted person shall serve his sentence in a prison facility which is located, is so far as it is possible, nearest to his place of residence. A transfer of the convicted person to another facility may take place only on justified reasons.”
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention that placing him in a prison located far from his home resulted in a breach of his right to respect for his family life. Due to the distance and costs of traveling he could no longer receive visits from his mother, brother, wife and young child.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his private and family life, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention? Reference is made to the fact that the applicant had spent over three years in a prison located far from his home which prevented him from receiving family visits (see Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev v. Russia, nos. 11082/06 and 13772/05, § 837, 25 July 2013).
2. The Government are requested to submit evidence relating to occupancy rate in the Białystok and Barczewo Prisons between 2009 and 2012 (see Łatak v. Poland (dec.), no. 52070/08, §§ 56-57, 12 October 2010). In addition the Government are requested to provide a copy of the remand centre’s register of persons who had, between 7 May 2008 and 30 August 2012, visited the applicant.
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