Communicated on 3 February 2020
Published on 24 February 2020
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 42903/14
Nikolay Yevdokimovich SILI
against Ukraine
lodged on 20 May 2014
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The case mainly concerns the following two issues: the material conditions of the applicant’s detention in Romny Prison no. 56 and his continued inability to get a disability pension in prison. While the applicant does not rely on any provisions of the Convention or its Protocols, these complaints fall to be examined under Article 3 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, respectively.
According to the applicant, his cells in the above-mentioned prison, in which he has been serving his life-imprisonment sentence since March 2009, are overcrowded and often accommodate four inmates instead of two. The toilet is allegedly not separated from the living area. Furthermore, the applicant describes the nutrition as meagre and of poor quality. The prison menu excludes entirely any fruits, and those who have no means to buy them and receive no food parcels have no access to fruit for years. No hygiene items of primary necessity are allegedly provided to prisoners, apart from 200 g of soap per month, which is manifestly insufficient.
The applicant also complains that, although he is entitled to a disability pension following an eye injury of 1987, his strenuous efforts to get that pension in prison have been unsuccessful. He refers to Article 122 of the Code of Enforcement of Criminal Sentences providing, in particular, that the disability pension should be payable to prisoners on common grounds and that prison authorities should take all possible measures for facilitating that.
The cited provision of the Code of Enforcement of Criminal Sentences stipulates that utility charges should be deduced from prisoners’ pensions in the amount not exceeding 50% of the pension (or 75% - prior to the amendments of 8 April 2014).
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Have the material conditions of the applicant’s detention in Romny Prison no. 56 been in compliance with the requirements of Article 3 of the Convention?
2. Has there been a violation of the applicant’s property rights under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 on account of his alleged continued inability to get him disability pension in prison? The Government are requested to specify when the applicant was assigned disability for the first time and when he became entitled to disability pension, as well as his related requests to the prison authorities and their responses thereto.
The Government are also requested to provide all the relevant documents as regards the above-mentioned issues.
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