European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

CASE OF VARGA AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA

(Applications nos. 23996/16 and 6 others - see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

4 July 2024

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Varga and Others v. Romania,

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

 Branko Lubarda, President,
 Anne Louise Bormann,
 Sebastian Răduleţu, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 13 June 2024,

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

7.  In applications nos. 19520/20, 29565/20 and 2443/21 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 these 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 applications nos. 19520/20, 29565/20 and 2443/21 are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be declared inadmissible in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.

10.  The Government further argued that the applicants had failed to exhaust the available effective remedies for the complaints about the inadequate conditions of their detention, as an action in tort was an effective remedy for grievances similar to those of the applicants, allowing them to have the violation of the Convention acknowledged, either explicitly or in substance, and to receive adequate and sufficient compensation at the domestic level, and invited the Court to declare these applications inadmissible.

11.  The Court recalls that in Polgar v. Romania, no. 39412/19, §§ 94-96, 20 July 2021, it held that an action in tort, based on Articles 1349 and 1357 of the Romanian Civil Code, as interpreted consistently by the national courts, had represented since 13 January 2021 an effective remedy for individuals who considered that they had been subjected to inadequate conditions of detention and who were no longer held in conditions that were allegedly contrary to the Convention (see also Vlad v. Romania, (dec.), no. 122/17, §§ 30-33, 15 November 2022).

12.  The Court notes that, in application no. 55396/20 the applicant was transferred after 13 January 2021 for periods longer than eight days (see, mutatis mutandis, Cloşcă and Others v. Romania, nos. 54609/15 and 2 others, §§ 11 and 13, 8 October 2020) to detention facilities about which he did not raise any complaints. Subsequently, he was transferred to detention facilities where he had been held again in conditions that were allegedly contrary to the Convention (see the appended table for further details).

13.  Since the applicant temporarily ceased to be held in conditions of detention that were allegedly contrary to the Convention after the moment when the tort action had been considered as representing an effective remedy (see, mutatis mutandis, Polgar, § 96 and Vlad, § 23, both cited above), but did not inform the Court of having brought such an action before the domestic courts in respect of his detention from 25 December 2019 to 20 January 2022, the Court accepts the Government's objection and finds that the applicant's complaint related to that period of detention must be dismissed for failure to exhaust domestic remedies.

14.  As regards the remaining applicants, the Court dismisses the Government's objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, because they cannot be reproached for not having exhausted the tort action domestically, since they were all released before 13 January 2021 (see the appended table for further details) when the tort action became an effective remedy (see Polgar, cited above, §§ 94-99; a contrario, Vlad, also cited above, §§ 30-33).

15.  Moreover, the Government considered the complaints related to the periods in which the applicants had a living space of more than 3 sq. m to be manifestly ill-founded.

16.  The Court notes that the relevant principles of its case-law in relation to overcrowding were set out in Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 96-101, 20 October 2016, and that a violation of Article 3 will be found if the space factor is coupled with other aspects of inappropriate conditions of detention. The details of the applicants' detention are indicated in the appended table. The length of an individual's detention under specified conditions must also be taken into account (see, for example, Story and Others v. Malta, nos. 56854/13 and 2 others, §§ 112-113, 29 October 2015). Since the applicants complained before the Court of other aspects of inappropriate conditions of detention (see appended table for further details), the objection raised by the Government must be dismissed. In particular, the Court notes that the applicants were kept in detention in poor conditions. The Court reiterates 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 in conjunction with other material aspects of detention (see Muršić, cited above, §§ 122-41, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149-59, 10 January 2012).

17.  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.

18.  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, the Court considers that in the instant case the applicants' conditions of detention, as described in the appended table, were inadequate.

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

3. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

20.  In applications nos. 29565/20, 55396/20 and 1759/21, the applicants also raised other complaints under Article 3 of the Convention.

21.  The Court has examined these applications 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.

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

4. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

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

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 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;
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 4 July 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

 Viktoriya Maradudina Branko Lubarda
 Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention

(inadequate conditions of detention)

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