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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> KUDRYAVTSEV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA - 50487/14 (Judgment : Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment) (Substantive aspect) Violation of Article 1...) [2017] ECHR 646 (06 July 2017) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2017/646.html Cite as: [2017] ECHR 646

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THIRD SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASE OF KUDRYAVTSEV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

 

(Application no. 50487/14 and 7 others -

see appended list)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

 

STRASBOURG

 

6 July 2017

 

 

 

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




In the case of Kudryavtsev and Others v. Russia,

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

          Luis López Guerra, President,
          Dmitry Dedov,
          Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 15 June 2017,

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

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in applications against Russia 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 applications were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).

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. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.

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 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, Kudła v. Poland [GC], no. 30210/96, §§ 90-94, ECHR 2000-XI, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 139-165, 10 January 2012). It reiterates in particular that extreme lack of space in a prison cell or overcrowding weighs heavily as an aspect to be taken into account for the purpose of establishing whether the impugned detention conditions were “degrading” from the point of view of Article 3 and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see, amongst many authorities, Karalevičius v. Lithuania, no. 53254/99, §§ 36-40, 7 April 2005).

8.  In the leading case of Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, no. 5993/08, 28 November 2013, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

9.  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 were inadequate.

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

III.  REMAINING COMPLAINTS

11.  Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, in accordance with the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its findings in Ananyev and Others, cited above, §§ 100-119.

IV.  APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

12.  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.”

13.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case-law (see, in particular, Sergey Babushkin v. Russia, (just satisfaction), no. 5993/08, 16 October 2014 and Mozharov and Others v. Russia, no. 16401/12 and 9 others, 21 March 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

14.  The Court 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 applications admissible;

 

3.  Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention;

 

4.  Holds that there has been a violation as regards the other complaints raised under well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table);

 

5.  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.

 

6.  Dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 6 July 2017, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

        Liv Tigerstedt                                                             Luis López Guerra
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 name Date of birth	Representative name and location	Facility Start and end date Duration	Number of inmates per brigade Sq. m. per inmate Number of toilets per brigade	Specific grievances	Other complaints under well-established case-law	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]
1.	50487/14 30/06/2014	Yuriy Aleksandrovich Kudryavtsev 22/03/1951		IK-11 Bor Nizhniy Novgorod Region 12/12/2006 pending More than 10 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 26 day(s)	130 inmate(s) 1.6 m² 6 toilet(s)	6 sinks, no hot water, poor food quality, not provided with warm seasonal clothes and shoes and blanket, meals intake of 5 min. long	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	13,800
2.	7250/16 20/01/2016	Gyulmirza Gadzhirzy Ogly Rashidov 03/11/1976		IK-15 Norilsk 30/07/2007 to 29/09/2015 8 year(s) and 2 month(s)	120 inmate(s) 0.7-1 m² 6 toilet(s)	lack of fresh air, lack of toilet privacy		5,000
3.	7403/16 20/01/2016	Aleksey Vladimirovich Chukhrov 05/03/1980		IK-16 Gromadsk, Krasnoyarsk Region 01/01/2001 to 30/08/2003 2 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 30 day(s)         IK-15 Norilsk 30/08/2003 to 27/07/2007 3 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 28 day(s)   IK-17 Krasnoyarsk 27/07/2007 to 28/07/2010 3 year(s) and 2 day(s)     IK-15 Norilsk 28/07/2010 to 18/12/2014 4 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 21 day(s)   IK-17 Krasnoyarsk 18/12/2014 to 21/08/2015 8 month(s) and 4 day(s)	120 inmate(s)   4 toilet(s)               180 inmate(s)   5 toilet(s)       150 inmate(s)   6 toilet(s)       180 inmate(s)   5 toilet(s)       150 inmate(s)   6 toilet(s)	lack of fresh air, no ventilation, no hot or cold water               lack of privacy when using toilet         lack of privacy when using toilet, no ventilation, warm clothes provided not in full range     lack of privacy when using the toilet         lack of privacy when using the toilet, no ventilation, warm clothes provided not in full range		5,000
4.	14645/16 24/02/2016	Ilya Vyacheslavovich Ilyin 11/10/1982	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-1, Kostroma 17/02/2015 to 01/10/2015 7 month(s) and 15 day(s)	2 m²	lack of (adequate) heating, infestation of the cell with insects, lack of (sufficient) natural light, lack of hygienic facilities, poor quality of food		3,600
5.	21221/16 05/04/2016	Rustam Nikolayevich Orekhov 19/03/1983	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-7 Kostroma Region (OT-15/7) 09/06/2009 to 21/10/2010 1 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 13 day(s)     IK-1 Kostroma Region (OT-15/1) 21/10/2010 to 02/11/2010 13 day(s)   IK-7 Kostroma Region (OT-15/7) 02/11/2010 to 05/03/2013 2 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 4 day(s)     IK-1 Kostroma Region (OT-15/1) 05/03/2013 to 29/03/2013 25 day(s)   IK-7 Kostroma Region (OT-15/7) 29/03/2013 to 16/10/2015 2 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 18 day(s) IK-1 Kostroma Region (OT-15/1) 16/10/2015 to 29/12/2015 2 month(s) and 14 day(s)	120 inmate(s) 1 m² 3 toilet(s)           4 inmate(s) 2.5 m² 1 toilet(s)       120 inmate(s) 1 m² 3 toilet(s)           4 inmate(s) 2.5 m² 1 toilet(s)       120 inmate(s) 1 m² 3 toilet(s)       90 inmate(s) 0.6 m²	overcrowding, cramped walking yard, insufficient hygiene facilities, infestation of the cell with insects, dormitory infested with vermin   overcrowding, insufficient hygiene facilities       overcrowding, cramped walking yard, insufficient hygiene facilities, infestation of the cell with insects, dormitory infested with vermin   overcrowding, insufficient hygiene facilities       overcrowding, infestation of the cell with insects, cramped walking yard, insufficient hygiene facility, dormitory infested with vermin   overcrowding, cramped walking yard		5,000
6.	21351/16 05/04/2016	Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shalamov 09/12/1976	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-1, Kostroma Region 28/06/2011 to 12/01/2016 4 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 16 day(s)	2 m²	lack of (sufficient) natural light, poor quality of food, infestation of the cell with insects, lack of (regular) physical exercise on fresh air, lack of proper hygienic facilities		5,000
7.	22078/16 29/03/2016	Dmitriy Vladimirovich Gorshkov 06/03/1978	Vinogradov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kostroma	IK-1 Kostroma Region (OT-15/1) 01/10/2014 to 25/12/2015 1 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 25 day(s)	100 inmate(s) 0.6 m²	overcrowding, infestation of the cell with insects, high humidity, cramped walking yard, insufficient lighting, lack of fresh air, inadequate working premises conditions, dormitory infested with vermin		5,000
8.	24581/16 20/04/2016	Vagif Dilgamovich Ibragimov 06/07/1980		IK-7, Tula Region 21/07/2009 to 13/12/2015 6 year(s) and 4 month(s) and 23 day(s)	1.5 m²	overcrowding, lack of hygienic facilities, poor quality of food, lack of proper seasonal clothes	Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in respect of inadequate conditions of detention	5,000

 




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