CASE OF FIRSTOV v. RUSSIA
Remainder inadmissible;Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment;Inhuman treatment) (Substantive aspect);Non-pecuniary damage - award
Dmitry Dedov;Elisabeth Steiner;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Julia Laffranque;Khanlar Hajiyev;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1972 and lives in the town of Tolyatti, Samara Region. 6. On 26 October 2003 police officers from the Inza District Police Department arrested the applicant. He was accused of having broken into a flat and having stolen personal belongings the estimated cost of which was 20,000 Russian roubles (RUB), (approximately 550 euros (EUR). He was remanded in custody at the Inza Town police station (“the police ward”). 7. Three days later, a prosecutor authorised the applicant’s pre-trial detention and charged him with theft. He was transferred to Inza temporary detention facility IZ-73/3. 8. On 24 December 2003 a deputy prosecutor of the Inza District served the applicant with a bill of indictment. The applicant was committed to stand trial before the Inza District Court. 9. On 13 January 2004 the District Court held the first trial hearing, and on 19 January 2004 it found the applicant guilty of aggravated theft and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. On 24 March 2004 the Ulyanovsk Regional Court upheld the judgment on appeal. 10. In addition to his first period of detention in the police ward following his arrest, the applicant was taken to the ward on twenty-two occasions during the pre-trial investigation and court proceedings. 11. The applicant provided the following description of the conditions of his detention in the ward. He was usually detained in a cell containing two wooden bunk beds and accommodating up to ten detainees. Inmates had had to take turns to rest owing to the shortage of sleeping places. No bedding was provided. The cell did not have a window in the proper sense of that word – a small window was covered with a metal sheet, blocking access to natural light and air. In the absence of any artificial ventilation in the cell, it was hard to breathe owing to the thick smoke and the humidity. The cell was lit by a small bulb inserted in a recess in the concrete wall above the door. Thick metal bars separated the bulb from the cell. According to the applicant, there was no furniture, wash-bowl or lavatory pan in the cell. Once a day, in the morning, inmates were taken to a public lavatory outside the police station. For the rest of the day, they had to use a bucket as a lavatory pan. They were allowed to clean the bucket once a day, in the morning. The foul smell permeated the cell, as the bucket had no cover. The police station did not have a recreation yard and inmates were therefore confined to their cells day and night. Food was provided once a day. The daily food ration consisted of half a bowl of cabbage soup and a piece of bread. In addition, inmates were given tea, which they drank from containers cut from plastic bottles. Medical assistance was unavailable. 12. The Government submitted that in the period after his arrest and until 4 February 2004, the applicant had been taken back to the police ward twenty-two times. He had usually been taken from the detention facility IZ-73/3 to the ward early in the morning and had been returned to facility IZ-73/3 in the evening, only to be sent back to the police ward in the following morning or several days later. The Government observed that he had spent ten days in the police ward during the pre-trial investigation: five days while attending the court hearings, four days while he was re-acquainting himself with the case-file materials, and an additional three days while he was studying the court records. The Government acknowledged that the material and sanitary conditions in the ward had not “entirely satisfied the established legal requirements”. They stressed that the cells had had no furniture, save for bunk beds, or radios, the lighting had been “insufficient”, the cells had not been equipped with lavatory pans as the police ward was not connected to the water mains or the sewerage system. They further conceded that there had been no artificial ventilation system, the cells had not been disinfected and detainees had not been provided with bedding. Following a number of warnings from the prosecutor, in April 2004 the director of the police station sent a request for additional funding and took the necessary steps to comply with the legal norms governing conditions of detention. The Government provided the Court with a copy of a prosecutor’s order issued on 15 February 2004. Having seen for himself the conditions of detention in the police station and talked to inmates, the prosecutor noted the following problems requiring immediate improvement: occasional overcrowding, failure to provide inmates with bedding, scarce food and lack of sanitary facilities. The Government described the detention authorities’ response to the prosecutor’s orders, and submitted that after the applicant’s detention in the ward the metal shutters had been removed from the cell windows and inmates had been guaranteed an individual sleeping place and personal space of no less than four square metres. Furniture had been installed in the cells and inmates had started receiving food three times a day. The police station administration was now organising daily walks for detainees, had introduced disinfection of the facilities and was providing inmates with the opportunity to take a shower and wash their clothes and bedding. 13. Nonetheless, the Government disputed the applicant’s allegations concerning the availability of medical assistance and the provision of warm clothes. In particular, they stated that urgent medical assistance had been ensured by emergency doctors, although the applicant had never requested any medical attention. It had also been open to him to ask the administration of the detention facility IZ-73/3 for warm clothes. He had not used that opportunity. The Government insisted that the applicant had had warm clothes when he had been taken to the police station between 13 and 19 January 2004, because his female partner had sent warm clothes to him at the temporary detention facility in December 2003. 14. On 9 March 2004 the applicant brought an action in tort against the police station administration and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. He claimed that the conditions of his detention in the police ward had been inhuman and had led to a serious deterioration in his health. 15. On 26 May 2004 the Inza District Court partly allowed the applicant’s action and awarded him RUB 500 (approximately EUR 15) in compensation for non-pecuniary damage. The District Court held, in so far as relevant, as follows: “It was established in a court hearing that the facilities provided to detainees in [the Inza police station] were not adequately furnished, in violation of the legal norms; the representatives of [the police station] explained that the underlying cause was a lack of funds. The materials of the prosecutor’s inquiry confirm that bedding is not provided in the [detention ward]. The cells are not furnished in compliance with the law. There are no lavatory pans, water, tables, radio, etc. The lighting in the cells is insufficient; the cells are in semi-darkness. There are windows in the cells; however, they are covered by metal bars in such a fashion that they block access to natural light. There is no ventilation in the cells. The air is stuffy with a peculiar odour. The police ward is not disinfected ... ... suspects and defendants have the right to one hour’s outdoor recreation per day ... The director of [the police station] Mr T. explained in a court hearing that he does not draw up a record of detainees’ daily outdoor recreation; whenever possible [detainees] are taken for a walk once a day. Following a prosecutor’s decision addressed to the director of [the police station] about the elimination of violations of the Detention of Suspects Act, certain measures were taken: persons detained in [the police station] are now taken for outdoor walks in compliance with the above-mentioned law; light bulbs with a higher wattage are now used in the cells, thus producing more light; and an estimate of expenditure has been drawn up in respect of the shortcomings that have to be eliminated in order to comply with [the prosecutor’s] decision. It appears from the reply of the police station director to [the prosecutor’s decision], that once funds have been received, all the necessary measures will be taken to eliminate the shortcomings. ... [The applicant’s] complaints pertaining to the lack of medical assistance are worth consideration. In the court hearing the representatives of [the police station] did not dispute the fact that the requirements of the Instruction on the Provision of Medical and Sanitary Assistance to Detainees ... are not complied with in [the police ward]. However, the court does not disregard the fact that ... urgent medical assistance was provided to suspects by emergency medical teams in [the police ward]. That fact is corroborated by the records of medical examinations of detainees. [The applicant] did not request the provision of medical assistance. ... By virtue of norm no. 3 for daily food rations of persons detained in police detention facilities, detainees ... should have been given the following food ration per twenty-four hours: 550 grams of bread ..., 100 grams of porridge, 20 grams of pasta, 100 grams of meat, 100 grams of fish, 30 grams of margarine, 15 grams of vegetable oil, 30 grams of sugar, 1 gram of tea, 20 grams of salt, 500 grams of potatoes, 250 grams of vegetables, 0.1 gram of bay leaf and 3 grams of tomato sauce. In the court hearing [the applicant] explained that [on the days when he was transferred between the police station and detention facility IZ-73/3] he received food in [that facility] in the morning and evening, [and that he was] not given food in [the police station]. [During longer stays] he received food once a day [in the ward]. The food ration included a plate of soup, half a loaf of bread and a glass of tea. The representatives of the [police station] did not dispute that fact. ... It was established in a court hearing that when [the applicant] was transferred [to the ward] in winter, he did not have winter clothes. He was not provided with winter clothes in detention facility IZ-73/3... [The ward] also did not provide [the applicant] with warm clothes as it did not have them. The above-mentioned facts confirm that [the applicant’s] right to conditions of detention in compliance with domestic requirements was violated in [the police ward], which caused [him] psychological distress. ... Having regard to the requirements of reasonableness and justice, the nature of the psychological distress caused to [the applicant], the temporary character of [the applicant’s] detention in [the police ward]: the limited period of less than twenty-four hours; the fact that [he] was transferred to [the police station] to take part in investigative measures and court hearings, and the number of days during which [he] was detained in [the ward], the court finds that [the applicant’s] claims should be awarded but in a reduced amount.” 16. The applicant attended the hearings before the District Court. 17. On 10 August 2004 the Ulyanovsk Regional Court upheld the judgment of 26 May 2004, endorsing the reasons given by the District Court. 18. In November 2004 the applicant lodged an action against the head of the medical unit of the temporary detention facility IZ-73/3 in Inza, the police station administration and an investigator from the Inza Town Police Department, seeking compensation for damage to his health and loss of earnings. In particular, he argued that he had had no chronic illnesses prior to his detention and that he had fallen ill during his pre-trial detention because of the appalling conditions of his detention in the Inza police ward. He also alleged that the serious deterioration in his health had become apparent in July and August 2004, after his first tort action against the police ward had already been examined by the Inza District Court. 19. On 24 May 2005 the Inza District Court dismissed the applicant’s action, finding it to be manifestly ill-founded. The District Court concluded that there was no evidence supporting the applicant’s allegations that he had sustained damage to his health as a result of his detention. The applicant was represented by a lawyer during the hearings. On 30 August 2005 the Ulyanovsk Regional Court upheld the judgment.