CASE OF BURCICĂ AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA (European Court of Human Rights)

Last Updated on February 10, 2021 by LawEuro

FOURTH SECTION
CASE OF BURCICĂ AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA
(Application no. 29536/16 and 9 others – see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
21 January 2021

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

In the case of Burcicăand 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 LivTigerstedt,ActingDeputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 17 December 2020,

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 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 argued that all applicants had lost their victim status for periods of detention as indicated in the appended table. They claimed that the applicants had been afforded adequate redress based on Law no. 169/2017 amending and completing Law no. 254/2013 on the execution of sentences for those respective periods of detention.

8. The Court has already found that the domestic remedy introduced in respect of inadequate conditions of detention in Romania and applicable until December 2019 was an effective one (see 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, 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, Muršićv. 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” under Article 3 of the Convention and may disclose a violation, both alone or taken together with other shortcomings (see Muršić, cited above, §§ 122 ‑141, and Ananyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 42525/07 and 60800/08, §§ 149‑159, 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 has 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, the Court considers that in the instant case the applicants’ conditions of detention 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. 41188/16, 59849/16 and 60625/16, the applicants also raised complaints under Article 3 of the Convention in relation to periods of detention preceding the start dates specified in the appended table.

15. 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 do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention as they were lodged outside the six-month time-limit.

It follows that this part of the applications nos. 41188/16, 59849/16 and 60625/16 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 v. Romania, nos. 61467/12 and 3 others, 25 April 2017), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sumsindicated 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, as 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;

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 21 January 2021, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Liv Tigerstedt                                         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 per applicant (in euros)[1]
1.	29536/16 18/10/2016	Cristian-Marian BURCICĂ 1987		Mioveni Prison 03/11/2019 – pending More than 1 year and 28 days	2.5 m²	overcrowding, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to potable water, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities	390 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 24/06/2014 to 03/11/2019	3,000
2.	33663/16 05/08/2016	Nicolae-Petrică CUȚITAR 1981	Irina Maria Peter Bucharest	Aiud, Deva, MiercureaCiuc and Arad Prisons 13/10/2005 to 13/05/2013 7 years and 7 months and 1 day Arad Prison 29/03/2018 to 04/04/2018 7 days Arad Prison 01/10/2018 to 07/03/2019 5 months and 7 days	1.17-2.74 m²	overcrowding (for the following periods: 13/10/2005 to 04/04/2008, 10/04/2008 to 29/07/2008 and 13/05/2009 to 21/10/2011), infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, no or restricted access to toilet, no or restricted access to shower, mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air	390 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 13/05/2013 to 29/03/2018, 11/04/2018 to 01/10/2018 and 08/03/2019 to 21/05/2019	5,000
3.	41188/16 22/08/2016	Ion MARCU 1954		Giurgiu Prison 31/01/2019 – pending More than 1 year and 10 months and 1 day		no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of food, lack or inadequate furniture, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, bunk beds, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, constant electric light, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient natural light	462 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 24/07/2012 to 31/01/2019	3,000
4.	41368/16 12/09/2016	Vasilică NĂSTRUȘNICU 1982		Iasi County Police Station and Arad, Gherla, Iasi and Jilava Prisons 28/02/2004 to24/07/2012 8 years and 4 months and 27 days	1.16-2.66 m²	overcrowding, bunk beds, no or restricted access to toilet, inadequate temperature, lack of fresh air, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, mouldy or dirty cell, insufficient number of sleeping places, no or restricted access to shower, poor quality of food	534 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 24/07/2012 to 10/12/2019	5,000
5.	42388/16 06/02/2017	Carol HORVATH 1975	Vasile Rareș Biro Satu Mare	Jilava Prison- Infirmary 31/07/2015 to17/08/2015 18 days Dej Prison Hospital 03/11/2015 to08/12/2015 1 month and 6 days Dej Prison Hospital 24/03/2016 to12/04/2016 20 days Dej Prison Hospital 18/07/2016 to23/08/2016 1 month and 6 days Dej Prison Hospital 22/09/2016 to30/09/2016 9 days		lack of fresh air, mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, bunk beds, lack or inadequate furniture, no or restricted access to shower, no or restricted access to warm water, poor quality of food, no or restricted access to toilet	138 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 08/07/2015 to 28/11/2017, except for the periods referred to in Column no. 5 (Facility, Start and end date, Duration).	1,000
6.	52497/16 30/09/2016	Florin GHIȚULESCU 1980		Arad, Rahova and Mărgineni Prisons 20/05/2011 to06/02/2013 1 year and 8 months and 18 days Arad and Mărgineni Prisons 27/05/2013 to20/12/2013 6 months and 24 days Mărgineni Prison 19/02/2014 to04/03/2014 14 days Arad Prison and Dej Prison Hospital 22/08/2014 – pending More than 6 years and 3 months and 10 days	1.45-1.90 m²	overcrowding (for the following periods: 20/05/2011-08/09/2011 and 28/09/2011-08/06/2012) infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, bunk beds, mouldy or dirty cell, no or restricted access to potable water, no or restricted access to running water, inadequate temperature, poor quality of food	54 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 06/02/2013 to 27/05/2013, from 20/12/2013 to 19/02/2014 and from 04/03/2014 to 22/08/2014	5,000
7.	59849/16 31/01/2017	Mihai BALINT 1948		Arad Prison 08/09/2016 to12/06/2017 9 months and 5 days Arad Prison 23/06/2017 to12/10/2017 3 months and 20 days Arad Prison 23/10/2017 to18/01/2018 2 months and 27 days		mouldy or dirty cell, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, bunk beds, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack or inadequate furniture, poor quality of food	414 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 24/07/2012 to 10/12/2019, except for the periods referred to in Column no. 5 (Facility, Start and end date, Duration).	3,000
8.	60625/16 02/11/2016	Ionel TĂNASE 1980		Mioveni Prison 10/11/2019 – pending More than 1 year and 21 days	2.22 m²	overcrowding, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, inadequate temperature, lack of fresh air, lack of or insufficient electric light, lack of or insufficient natural light, no or restricted access to warm water	522 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 06/03/2012 to 30/08/2012, from 27/09/2012 to 09/09/2014 and from 07/10/2014 to 10/11/2019	3,000
9.	61915/16 11/11/2016	Mihai-Cristian HATNEAN 1972		Iași Prison 21/11/2019 – pending More than 1 year and 10 days		mouldy or dirty cell, lack of or insufficient natural light, lack of fresh air, inadequate temperature, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of privacy for toilet, no or restricted access to running water, lack of or poor quality of bedding and bed linen, lack or inadequate furniture, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, no or restricted access to shower, bunk beds, lack of or restricted access to leisure or educational activities, lack or insufficient quantity of food, poor quality of food	480 days in compensation for a total period of detention spent in inadequate conditions from 21/02/2013 to 21/11/2019	3,000
10.	62484/16 19/10/2016	George VASILE 1976		Calarasi County Police Station and Jilava, Aiud, Poarta Alba, Craiova, Tulcea, MiercureaCiuc and Arad Prisons 09/03/2005 – pending More than 15 years and 8 months and 22 days		no or restricted access to toilet, poor quality of food, lack of fresh air, lack of or inadequate hygienic facilities, lack of or insufficient physical exercise in fresh air, no or restricted access to warm water, insufficient number of sleeping places, inadequate temperature, infestation of cell with insects/rodents, lack of toiletries, lack or insufficient quantity of food, no or restricted access to potable water, lack of privacy for toilet, lack or inadequate furniture	30 days in compensation for a total period of 165 days of detention spent in inadequate conditions (period not specified by the parties)	5,000

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