CASE OF CRISTIOGLO v. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment) (Substantive aspect)
Julia Laffranque;Paul Lemmens;Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström;Georges Ravarani;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1975 and lives in Chişinău. 6. In 2001 the Comrat Prosecutor’s Office initiated a criminal investigation against the applicant on charges of murder and an arrest warrant was issued by the Comrat District Court. Since the applicant had left the country, an international search order was issued. 7. On 21 January 2011, upon his return to Moldova, the applicant was arrested and placed in detention. On 4 February 2011, when the applicant was about to be transferred from Comrat to Chisinau, he cut open his abdomen as a sign of protest. He was taken to a hospital where his wound was taken care of. The applicant lodged a habeas corpus request, however it was rejected on the ground, inter alia, that he had been in hiding for more than ten years and that, consequently, he could abscond again. Later the detention warrant was renewed several times on similar grounds and the applicant’s appeals were rejected. The last judgment in the proceedings complained of by the applicant is dated 18 October 2011 and was issued by the Comrat Court of Appeal. 8. During all this time the applicant was detained in Prison no. 13 in Chisinau (between 4 March and 17 April 2011 and between 9 October 2012 and 12 June 2013) and in Prison no. 5 in Cahul (between 18 April 2011 and 8 October 2012). The applicant gave a detailed description of the conditions of detention in Prison no. 13 where, according to him, the cells were overcrowded and dirty. Each inmate only had between 1.5 and 3 square metres of available space in the cells in which the applicant was detained. The toilets were separated from the rest of the cells by a wall which was not very high and were located at a distance of some 1.5 metres from the table where the inmates served their meals. There was no ventilation system and the air was impregnated with a sewage smell and with cigarette smoke; there was no sufficient natural light because the windows were very small; the daily walks lasted for only one hour and the food served was of a very bad quality. The applicant submitted that according to information available on the web page of the Ministry of Justice, each inmate was allocated only 10 Moldovan Lei per day, i.e. the equivalent of 0.8 Euros (EUR) at the time. Moreover, the applicant alleged that after his arrest, he needed urgent medical care for the wound on his abdomen and for an ear infection and that no medical care was provided for him for one month. He provided medical documents to support his claims concerning his health problems. The Government provided documents according to which the applicant was seen by doctors and medication was prescribed for him. 9. In so far as Prison no. 5 is concerned, the applicant submitted that he was detained in two cells in which each inmate had between 2.4 and 3 square metres. The Government contested that information and presented a document according to which in the applicant’s cells each inmate had between 4.4 and 6.6 square metres. 10. The applicant was released from detention on 12 June 2013. The Court was not informed about subsequent developments in the criminal proceedings against the applicant.