CASE OF VIDISH v. RUSSIA
Remainder inadmissible;Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment;Inhuman treatment) (Substantive aspect);Violation of Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8-1 - Respect for family life);Violation of Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8-1 - Respect for correspondence);Non-pecuniary damage - award (Article 41 - Non-pecuniary damage;Just satisfaction)
Alena Poláčková;Branko Lubarda;Dmitry Dedov;George Nicolaou;Helen Keller;Luis López Guerra;Pere Pastor Vilanova
5. The applicant was born in 1962 and lives in Shadrinsk. 6. On 20 August 2003 the Shadrinsk Town Court of the Kurgan Region convicted him of murder and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment. On 29 October 2003 the Kurgan Regional Court upheld the conviction on appeal. 7. The applicant is HIV-positive and at the material time also suffered from tuberculosis and hepatitis. 8. On 25 December 2008 the applicant was transferred to the LIU OF73/3 medical facility (лечебно-исправительное учреждение) in the Kurgan Region and was detained in the following wards: (a) quarantine ward 24 from 25 to 30 December 2008 and from 18 to 30 June 2009; (b) ward 25 from 30 December 2008 to 28 May 2009 and from 30 June to 21 September 2009; and (c) ward 26 from 21 September to 3 November 2009. 9. According to the applicant, the wards were severely overcrowded. For instance, ward 25 measured approximately 80 square metres, was equipped with fifteen two-tier bunk beds and housed twenty-seven inmates. Passages between the beds, lengthwise, were as narrow as fifty centimetres and were used by four inmates. The wards were poorly lit as the windows were covered with louvre shutters blocking access to natural light. 10. According to the Government, ward 24 measured 61.49 square metres, had sixteen sleeping places and accommodated up to sixteen inmates. Ward 25 measured 67.5 square metres, was equipped with thirteen two-tier bunk beds and housed up to twenty-six inmates. Finally, ward 28 measured 49.4 square metres and accommodated fifteen inmates. The applicant was provided with an individual sleeping place at all times. All wards had access to natural light. 11. In support of their submissions, the Government provided original floor plans and ward population registers containing information about the exact number of inmates in each ward for the whole period the applicant was in the LIU OF-73/3 facility. They also submitted a prosecutor’s report dated 11 October 2010 regarding the conditions there. It indicated, in particular, that windows in all wards were fitted with metal louvre shutters. 12. On 9 February 2009 the medical facility authorities issued an order introducing visiting fees for inmates and their families. The calculation table annexed to the order specified that a fee of 320 Russian roubles (approximately 9 euros) per day per person would be payable, covering maintenance charges, prison staff salaries, the depreciation of visiting room equipment, bed linen and cleaning products. 13. On 14 April 2009 the director of the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences sent a letter to the heads of Russian penal facilities, reminding them that charging visitors and detainees for family visits was in breach of Article 89 of the Code on the Execution of Sentences (see paragraph 17 below) and that facility administrations must bear the costs of providing rooms for long-term visits. Only additional services are payable by detainees in accordance with the Internal Regulations of Correctional Facilities (see paragraph 20 below). 14. On 22 April 2009 the applicant was authorised to see his two daughters on a long-term family visit. He calculated that a three-day visit from them would cost RUB 1,920, which was far beyond their means. His daughters did visit him, but stayed only one day instead of the expected three, as they did not have enough money on them to stay any longer. 15. On 22 August 2009 the applicant’s daughters visited their father again, this time free of charge. 16. On 29 April 2010 the applicant received a letter from the Court dated 19 March 2010 in the correspondence department of the OF-73/2 correctional facility, to which he had been transferred in February 2010. It was handed over to him in an open envelope and he was told to sign a copy which had been attached to his personal file.