Communicated on 14 November 2019
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 18451/16
Michał Adrian STOLARCZYK
against Poland
lodged on 26 April 2016
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Michał Adrian Stolarczyk, is a Polish national, who was born in 1988 and is detained in Gubin Prison.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant has been serving a sentence of imprisonment since 5 March 2013. His sentence is due to come to an end on 9 June 2020. At the relevant time he was detained in the Goleniów Prison.
In the period prior to January 2016 he had been granted occasional leave from prison on three occasions, received awards for his good behaviour in prison and took part in rehabilitation programmes.
On 23 January 2016 the applicant’s grandmother died. The applicant submitted that he had had a very close relationship with her as she had raised him after the death of his mother, convinced him to surrender to the authorities and, subsequently, despite her progressing illness, visited and called him regularly in prison.
On 25 January 2016 the applicant applied for a compassionate leave to attend the ceremony of “the last farewell” of his grandmother before the cremation of her body and the funeral. The Governor of the Goleniów Prison informed the applicant that he could attend the funeral, planned for 27 January 2015, under the prison guard escort. He was informed that he would have to wear his prison clothes and handcuffs.
On the same day the applicant appealed against this decision to the Szczecin Regional Court – Penitentiary Division (Sąd Okręgowy – Wydział Penitencjarny i Nadzoru nad Wykonywaniem Orzeczeń). He argued that the conditions imposed on his attending the funeral were undignified and harmful to him and his family.
On 26 January 2016 the ceremony of “the last farewell” of the applicant’s grandmother’s body took place in the funeral home. On 27 January 2016 the funeral took place. The applicant decided not to attend it, since he believed that his appearance in prison clothes, with handcuffs and under an escort of prison officers would be disrespectful to the memory of his grandmother.
On 22 March 2016 the Szczecin Regional Court – Penitentiary Division upheld the decision of the Governor of the Goleniów Prison. The domestic court indicated that, having taken into consideration the applicant’s demeanour in prison and the length of his sentence, it was not guaranteed that he would use his leave according to its purpose and return from it on time. It also held that the decision to allow the applicant to attend his grandmother’s funeral under the escort struck the right balance between the respect for the applicant’s dignity and his family life and the need to secure protection of legal order, in particular preventing the applicant’s absconding.
B. Relevant domestic law and practice
A detailed description of the relevant domestic law concerning general rules governing granting compassionate leave to prisoners is set out in the Court’s judgment in the case of Giszczak v. Poland (no. 40195/08, §§ 19‑21, 29 November 2011).
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention that the decision not to grant him compassionate leave to attend the ceremony of “the last farewell” before the cremation of his grandmother’s body and her funeral violated his right to respect for his family life.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Did the imposition of the conditions on his attending the funeral of his grandmother deprive the applicant of the effective possibility to attend this funeral and, if so, did the circumstances of the case give rise to a breach of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, did the domestic authorities provide a timely and adequate reply to the applicant’s request for compassionate leave to attend the ceremony of “the last farewell” before the cremation of his grandmother’s body and her funeral, as required by Article 8 § 1 of the Convention (see Giszczak v. Poland, no. 40195/08, 29 November 2011)?
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