Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: European Court of human rights

Date: 03/27/2008

Subject: The applicants, Anatoliy Yuryevich Korobov, Oleg Yuryevich Savelyev, Dmitriy Vladimirovich Tsyplov and Kirill Yuryevich Sukhovoy, are Russian nationals who live in Ivanovo (Russia). The first three applicants were born in 1979 and the fourth in 1982. All the applicants were found guilty of robbery and given prison sentences in 2000. Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), they complained about the conditions of their detention in remand facility IZ-37/1 in the case of Korobov and Others and in remand facility IZ-33/1 in the case of Sukhovoy. The Court observed that, in both cases, the main allegation, which the parties had agreed upon, was that the cells had been overpopulated. It reiterated that, in previous cases, it had frequently found that the fact that an applicant had been obliged to live, sleep, and use the toilet in the same cell with many other inmates had in itself been sufficient to cause distress and hardship of an intensity exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention. In the case of Korobov and Others it also found that the applicants’ situation had been aggravated by the fact that the cell windows had been covered with metal shutters which had blocked access to fresh air and natural light. In the case of Sukhovoy, the Court further noted that the applicant, only 18 years old at the time, had been detained for about seven months. The Court therefore held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 3 in both cases. Mr Sukhovoy was awarded EUR 3,000 for non-pecuniary damage. As the applicants in the case of Korobov and Others had not submitted their claims for just satisfaction within the required time-limit, the Court made no such award. (The judgments are available only in English.)

Parties: Choukhovoï c/ Russia ; Korobov e altri c/ Russia

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 6 Personal liberty - Personal security - Art. 7 Privacy - Justice - Art. 47 Justice: remedy - General provisions - Art. 52 Scope of guaranteed rights