CASE OF GOREMÎCHIN v. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment) (Substantive aspect);Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1 - Lawful arrest or detention);Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Criminal proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing);Violation of Article 13+3 - Right to an effective remedy (Article 13 - Effective remedy) (Article 3 - Prohibition of torture;Degrading treatment)
Paul Lemmens;Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström
5. The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Chişinău. 6. On 23 July 2007 the Râșcani District Court ordered the applicant’s detention pending trial for thirty days. He was charged with the offence of robbery, taking of hostages and blackmail while in Ukraine, in 1997 and 1998. The applicant was residing at the material time in Brussels, Belgium. 7. On 18 November 2008, the applicant was arrested in Brussels at the Moldovan authorities’ request and placed in a Belgian prison pending extradition to Moldova. 8. On 5 October 2009 the applicant was extradited to the Moldovan authorities. On the same day he was brought before a judge (Centru District Court), who ordered his detention on remand. 9. On 25 December 2009 the Chişinău Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s detention on remand for ninety days. 10. From then on, the applicant’s detention was prolonged every three months. Each time, the reasons for his detention were that it was an exceptional case, that there was a reasonable suspicion that he had committed serious offences punishable by imprisonment, that the criminal case was complex and that if released the applicant could interfere with the investigation, influence the witnesses and victims, re-offend or abscond (as he had earlier been declared a wanted person). 11. On 20 May 2010 the applicant made a habeas corpus request, asking for his detention to be replaced with a preventive measure other than deprivation of liberty. The applicant’s lawyer also raised a complaint about the impossibility to consult the applicant during the court hearings while not seated at the same desk next to him. He also complained about the denial by the court’s registry of the applicant’s request to receive copies of his case file. On 17 June 2010 the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s lawyer’s claims and on 21 June 2010 it prolonged the applicant’s detention warrant for another ninety days, relying on exactly the same reasons as before. 12. On 22 February 2012 the Bălți Court of Appeal, acting as a court of first instance, acquitted the applicant and ordered his release from detention. The court noted that its judgment could be challenged by an appeal on points of law within fifteen days. 13. On 6 April 2012 the Prosecutor’s Office lodged an appeal on points of law against the judgment of 22 February 2012. In the appeal the Prosecutor’s Office made reference to Article 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The applicant objected that the appeal had been lodged out of time. Nevertheless, on 21 December 2012 the Supreme Court of Justice upheld it and reopened the proceedings. The Supreme Court did not refer to the applicant’s objection that the appeal had been lodged out of time. 14. The proceedings ended on 30 December 2015, when the Buiucani District Court found the applicant guilty, but discontinued them on the ground of statutory time-limit. 15. The applicant was detained from 5 October 2009 to 23 October 2009 in the Department for Combating Organised Crimes. He was placed in a remand facility situated in a basement. The total surface was of 3 square metres, with no bed, chair, toilet facilities or washstand. He slept for four days on a concrete floor, using a bucket for his needs. In addition, the applicant had no daily walks outside his cell. 16. Four days later, the applicant was moved to cell no. 6 of the same detention facility. He was detained with two other inmates in a cell measuring 9 square metres for fifteen days. The applicant was held in similar conditions of detention as described above. He also claims that he was fed only once per day with soup and a slice of bread. During twenty days of detention he had access to the showers only once. 17. On 23 October 2009 the applicant was transferred from that remand facility to prison no. 13 (Chișinău). He was placed for three days in cell no. 38 with a total surface of 12 square metres. The applicant was detained with seven to twelve other inmates. In particular, the applicant describes his conditions of detention as follows: the cell was equipped with twelve wooden beds, it was not heated, the quality of food was very poor, there was a lack of ventilation, worsened by the inmates’ smoking directly in the cell, and poor lighting. 18. On 27 October 2009 the applicant was transferred to cell no. 78 measuring 30 square metres. He was detained there with twelve other detainees. The cell was equipped with twelve wooden beds. 19. On 5 December 2010 the applicant was transferred from prison no. 13 (Chișinău) to prison no. 11 (Bălți), where he was detained until the date of his acquittal by the Bălți Court of Appeal on 22 February 2012. On the date of his arrival he was not fed. He was placed in cell no. 6 with a total surface of 21 square metres. The applicant was detained with fourteen to nineteen other inmates. The cell was equipped with only fourteen beds and the detainees had to sleep in turns. The applicant described his conditions of detention as follows: toilet insufficiently separated from the cell, lack of a washstand, lack of water and ventilation, lack of adequate lighting, damp and cold cell. 20. On 30 December 2010 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office complaining about the poor conditions of detention. In a reply dated 10 January 2011, the Prosecutor’s Office informed the applicant that his complaint about the poor conditions of detention was well founded and that following a control carried out in Prison No. 11 multiple breaches of the law had been discovered. The prison administration was asked to remove the shortcomings found. It does not appear that any change in the applicant’s conditions of detention occurred after the Prosecutor Office’s involvement. 21. On 15 January 2011 the applicant was transferred to cell no. 21 with a total surface of 16 square metres. The applicant was detained along with fifteen to seventeen other inmates and they had to sleep in turns as the cell was equipped with only twelve beds. The conditions of detention as described by the applicant were as follows: lack of bed linen, clothing and hygiene products, inadequate quality of food, lack of medical assistance. The applicant also contends that he was bitten by parasitic insects present in the cell. 22. The applicant complained to the domestic courts and the investigating authority about the inhuman and degrading conditions of detention. On 20 January 2011 the Bălți Prosecutor’s Office acknowledged the existence of the inhuman conditions of detention in prison no. 11 (Bălți).