FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 19944/17
Valentin VAGNER
against Romania
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 25 November 2021 as a Committee composed of:
Armen Harutyunyan, President,
Jolien Schukking,
Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 12 June 2017,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Mr Valentin Vagner, was born in 1975. He was represented by Ms I. Mărgărit, a lawyer practising in Bucharest.
The applicant’s complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
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 application is inadmissible.
In particular, the Court notes that from the information submitted by the applicant he appeared to have complained about the inadequate conditions of detention he had been held in from 12 January 2012 to 22 January 2017. However, from the information submitted by the Government, which the applicant did not challenge, it transpires that the applicant was released from prison on 17 May 2016.
Against this background, the Court must thus determine whether the applicant complied with the six-month time-limit established by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention. Neither the Government nor the applicant submitted any observations in this respect. The Court has already found that the six-month rule is a public policy rule and that, consequently, it has jurisdiction to apply it of its own motion, even if the Government have not raised that objection (see Sabri Güneş v. Turkey [GC], no. 27396/06, § 29, 29 June 2012).
The Court reiterates that in the absence of an effective remedy for that grievance, the complaint about inadequate conditions of detention should have been introduced within six months of the last day of the applicant’s detention (see Iacov Stanciu v. Romania, no. 35972/05, §136, 24 July 2012). The applicant introduced his complaints before the Court on 12 June 2017, which is more than six months after the end of his detention on 17 May 2016. Accordingly, this application has been introduced out of time and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Declares the application inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 16 December 2021.
Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan
Acting Deputy Registrar President