VASS AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA - 7175/17 (Judgment : Article 3 - Prohibition of torture : Fourth Section Committee) [2022] ECHR 509 (23 June 2022)

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> VASS AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA - 7175/17 (Judgment : Article 3 - Prohibition of torture : Fourth Section Committee) [2022] ECHR 509 (23 June 2022) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2022/509.html Cite as: [2022] ECHR 509, ECLI:CE:ECHR:2022:0623JUD000717517, CE:ECHR:2022:0623JUD000717517

In the case of Vass and Others v. Romania,

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

          Armen Harutyunyan, President,
          Jolien Schukking,
          Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 2 June 2022,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1. The case originated in applications against Romania lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.

2. The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.

THE FACTS

3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.

4. The applicants complained of the inadequate conditions of their detention.

THE LAW

I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS

5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.

II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION

6. The applicants complained principally of the inadequate conditions of their detention. They relied on Article 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:

Article 3

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

7. The Government raised a preliminary objection concerning loss of victim status by the applicants for the periods of detention specified in the appended table because they were afforded adequate redress based on Law no. 169/2017 amending and completing Law no. 254/2013 on the execution of sentences for those specific periods of detention.

8. The Court notes that the domestic remedy introduced in respect of inadequate conditions of detention in Romania and applicable until December 2019 was held to be an effective one in the case of Dîrjan and Ştefan v. Romania ((dec.), nos. 14224/15 and 50977/15, §§ 23-33, 15 April 2020). This remedy was available to the applicants in the present applications, and they were, indeed, afforded adequate redress for certain periods of detention (for details see the appended table).

9. Therefore, the Court accepts the Government’s objection and finds that these parts of the applications are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.

10. Turning to the remaining periods of the applicants’ detention as specified in the appended table, the Court notes that the applicants were kept in detention in poor conditions. The details of the applicants’ detention are indicated in the appended table. The Court refers to the principles established in its case‑law regarding inadequate conditions of detention (see, for instance, Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 96‑101, ECHR 2016). It reiterates in particular that a serious lack of space in a prison cell weighs heavily as a factor to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the detention conditions described are “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see Muršić, cited above, §§ 122‑41, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149‑59, 10 January 2012).

11. In the leading case of Rezmiveș and Others v. Romania (nos. 61467/12 and 3 others, 25 April 2017), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

12. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, (including its findings in the recent case of Polgar v Romania, no. 39412/19, §§ 94-97, 20 July 2021), the Court considers that in the instant case the applicants’ conditions of detention, as described in the appended table, were inadequate.

13. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.

III. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

14. In applications nos. 12662/19, 48917/19, 50217/19, 53611/19, 56573/19, 60555/19, 62946/19, 63640/19 and 12169/20, the applicants also raised other complaints under Article 3 of the Convention.

15. The Court has examined the applications listed in the appended table and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.

It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

IV. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

16. Article 41 of the Convention provides:

“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”

17. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Rezmiveș and Others, cited above), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

18. The Court further considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

1. Decides to join the applications;

2. Declares the complaints concerning the inadequate conditions of detention, for the periods specified in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of the applications inadmissible;

3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention for the periods specified in the appended table below;

4. Holds

(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;

(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 23 June 2022, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan
Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention)

No.	Application no. Date of introduction	Applicant’s name Year of birth	Representative’s name and location	Facility Start and end date Duration	Sq. m per inmate	Specific grievances	Domestic compensation awarded (in days) based on total period calculated domestically	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros) [1]
	7175/17 03/01/2017	Mihai-Claudiu VASS 1990	Vasile Rareş Biro Satu Mare	Bihor County Police Station, Oradea and Satu Mare Prisons 09/09/2013 to 28/01/2016 2 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 20 day(s) Satu Mare Prison 02/02/2016 to 16/11/2016 9 month(s) and 15 day(s)	1.30 - 2.77 m²	overcrowding (save for the periods 14/01/2014 - 21/05/2014, 17/06/2014 - 02/03/2015, 03/12/2015 - 09/02/2016 and 10/05/2016 - 16/11/2016), lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities		3,000
	12662/19 08/05/2019	Mircea NEGREA 1981		Baia Mare Prison 15/07/2020 to 17/03/2021 8 month(s) and 3 day(s)	1.82 - 2.19 m²	overcrowding, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities	276 days in compensation for a total period of 1,391 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 12/01/2015 to 23/12/2019, including all the days spent in Gherla and Baia Mare Prisons, except for short periods spent in infirmary or transit rooms	1,000
	45532/19 05/11/2019	Zoltan BOGDAN 1987		Târgu Mureș Prison 23/12/2019 to 13/03/2020 2 month(s) and 20 day(s) Târgu Mureș Prison 11/05/2020 to 10/07/2020 2 month(s)	2.37 - 2.87 m²	overcrowding (save for the periods 11/02/2020 - 13/03/2020 and 11/05/2020 - 15/05/2020), lack of fresh air, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, poor quality of food	78 days in compensation for a total period of 403 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 17/01/2018 to 09/05/2018 and from 08/03/2019 to 22/12/2019, including all the period spent in Târgu Mureș Prison	1,000
	48917/19 31/10/2019	Petru CREȚU 1996		Giurgiu Prison 01/11/2018 to 13/11/2018 13 day(s) Giurgiu Prison 03/02/2020 to 28/02/2020 26 day(s)	-	overcrowding (save for the period 01/11/2018 - 13/11/2018), lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of fresh air	264 days in compensation for a total period of 1,322 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 25/06/2015 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Giurgiu Prison, except for the first period indicated in column no. 5	1,000
	50217/19 08/01/2020	Valentin PATRICHI 1983		Galați and Brăila Prisons 23/12/2019 to 12/11/2021 1 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 21 day(s)	2.25 m²	overcrowding, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, poor quality of food, inadequate temperature, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities	96 days in compensation for a total period of 501 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 29/06/2018 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Brăila, Tulcea and Galați Prisons, expert for the days spent in infirmary	3,000
	53611/19 26/11/2019	Péter-Levente KERESZTES 1971		Arad Prison 11/06/2018 to 10/08/2021 3 year(s) and 2 month(s)	-	lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to warm water, lack of fresh air, inadequate temperature, mouldy or dirty cell	84 days in compensation for a total period of 445 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 12/05/2016 to 11/06/2018, including all the periods spent in Oradea Prison	3,000
	56573/19 22/11/2019	Daniel DUMITRU 1990		Găești Prison 18/12/2019 to 23/06/2021 1 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 6 day(s)	-	infestation of cell with insects/rodents, mouldy or dirty cell, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, poor quality of food	366 days in compensation for a total period of 1,847 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 14/11/2014 to 18/12/2019, including all the periods spent in the detention facilities he complained of, except for the period 10/09/2018 - 13/09/2018 spent in a transit room	3,000
	57583/19 24/12/2019	Nicolae BALDOVIN 1977		Mioveni (Colibași), Bucharest - Jilava and Craiova Prisons 13/04/2007 to 12/05/2009 2 year(s) and 1 month(s) Mioveni (Colibași) 19/05/2009 to 12/07/2011 2 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 24 day(s) Mioveni (Colibași) 19/07/2011 to 24/07/2012 1 year(s) and 6 day(s) Mioveni (Colibași) and Târgu Jiu Prisons 23/12/2019 to 22/10/2020 10 month(s)	1.35 - 2.94 m²	overcrowding (save for the periods 04/02/2020 - 24/02/2020 and 29/07/2020 - 22/10/2020), poor quality of food, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to warm water, lack of fresh air	540 days in compensation for a total period of 2,703 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 24/07/2012 to 22/12/2019 in Mioveni (Colibași) and Târgu Jiu Prisons, except for the periods spent in Mioveni (Colibași) Prison Hospital, of which he did not complain	5,000
	60555/19 16/12/2019	Florian LAZĂR 1967		Craiova - Pelendava Prison 23/12/2019 to 26/02/2021 1 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 4 day(s)	2.57 m²	overcrowding, poor quality of food, lack of toiletries, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light	324 days in compensation for a total period of 1,633 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 24/06/2015 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Craiova, Giurgiu and Craiova - Pelendava Prisons	3,000
	62946/19 10/02/2020	Adrian MARIN 1974		Bucharest - Jilava Prison 23/12/2019 to 08/07/2020 6 month(s) and 16 day(s)	1.94 - 2.64 m²	overcrowding, no or restricted access to shower, poor quality of food, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, mouldy or dirty cell	198 days in compensation for a total period of 1,001 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 28/02/2017 to 22/12/2019, except for the days spent in prison hospitals, infirmary or transit rooms	1,000
	63351/19 29/01/2020	Constantin-Adrian ZALINSCHE 1988		Botoșani and Găești Prisons 23/12/2019 to 18/05/2021 1 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 26 day(s)	-	overcrowding (save for the period 23/12/2019 - 08/10/2020), mouldy or dirty cell, poor quality of food, lack of or insufficient natural light, infestation of cell with insects/rodents	522 days in compensation for a total period of 2,626 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 07/10/2012 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Botoșani County Police Station, Botoșani, Iași and Găești Prisons	3,000
	63640/19 30/01/2020	Marian-Florian RADA 1977		Mioveni Prison 23/12/2019 to 10/08/2020 7 month(s) and 19 day(s)	-	overcrowding, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, poor quality of food, infestation of cell with insects/rodents	534 days in compensation for a total period of 2,697 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 24/07/2012 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Mioveni Prison	1,000
	64780/19 20/01/2020	Gigel BARBU 1972		Tulcea Prison 23/12/2019 to 04/02/2021 1 year(s) and 1 month(s) and 13 day(s)	1.7 - 2.4 m²	overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, mouldy or dirty cell, poor quality of food	162 days in compensation for a total period of 826 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 18/09/2017 to 22/12/2019, including all the periods spent in Tulcea Prison	3,000
	64847/19 20/01/2020	Ionuț MARIA 1983		Bucharest - Jilava Prison 23/12/2019 to 14/10/2020 9 month(s) and 22 day(s)	2.39 m²	overcrowding, no or restricted access to warm water, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of fresh air, poor quality of food	78 days in compensation for a total period of 417 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 01/11/2018 to 22/12/2019	1,000
	12169/20 19/02/2020	Gheorghe COJOCARIU 1951		Miercurea Ciuc, Iași and Bacău Prisons 23/12/2019 to 14/01/2022 2 year(s) and 23 day(s)	1.44 - 2.97 m²	overcrowding (save for the periods 23/12/2019 - 21/02/2020, 24/03/2020 - 10/06/2020, 02/07/2020 - 08/07/2020 and 04/09/2020 - 16/12/2020), mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of fresh air	96 days in compensation for a total period of 492 days spent in detention in inadequate conditions from 25/04/2018 to 23/12/2019, except for the periods spent in infirmary or transit rooms	3,000

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.