CASE OF BRÂNDUŞE v. ROMANIA
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Degrading treatment) (Substantive aspect);Violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Right to free elections-{general} (Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 - Vote)
Armen Harutyunyan;Branko Lubarda;Carlo Ranzoni;Johannes Silvis;Kristina Pardalos;Luis López Guerra
5. The applicant was born in 1951 and lives in Şomoşcheş, Arad County. 6. At the time of the events in the present case, the applicant was serving a prison sentence for fraud, imposed by two decisions of the Timişoara Court of Appeal on 14 August 2002 and 11 November 2004. He was held mainly in Arad and Timişoara Prisons. In 2008 he spent a few days in cell no. 309 of Jilava Prison. According to the applicant’s description, the cell was dirty and lacked access to warm water. 7. On several occasions the applicant was kept in the court’s detention rooms where the detainees and guards were allowed to smoke. According to the applicant, he was exposed to passive smoking in the Arad County Court detention room on 15 December 2008. 8. According to the information provided by the prison administration and forwarded to the Court by the Government, the applicant was held in cell no. 309 in Jilava Prison from 29 May to 1 June 2008 and from 16 to 18 June 2008. The personal space available to the applicant was 1.65 sq. m during the first period of detention and 1.93 sq. m during the second period of detention. Disinfection and pest control were carried out three times per year and the cell was cleaned daily by the inmates. The same rules of hygiene applied to the toilets and shower rooms. The cell benefitted from both natural and artificial light and had beds with mattresses, tables, shelves, and a television set. In an annex to the cell there was a toilet space, consisting of two partitioned toilet bowls and two wash basins. Access to warm water was possible in the common shower room, which contained eighteen showers and to which the inmates had access in privacy once a week. 9. On 30 November 2008 the applicant was not allowed to vote in the parliamentary elections and, despite his requests for clarifications, the prison authorities gave him no explanations as to whether he was entitled to vote or not. The next day, he informed the Court about what had happened. 10. On 21 December 2009 the applicant was released on probation. He was arrested again on 2 July 2010 and served the rest of his sentence until 28 March 2011.