Poor material conditions of detention

Bragadireanu v Romania group of cases (Application No 22088/04) and Rezmives and others (Application No 61467/12+ )

Documents from the February 2020 briefing:

• Power point by George Stafford, EIN Co-Director, on behalf of Georgiana Gheorghe, Director, APADOR-CH

• Rule 9.2 - Communication from a NGO (Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH)) (21/10/2019) in the cases of Rezmives and Others and BRAGADIREANU group v. Romania (Applications No. 22088/04, 61467/12) [Anglais uniquement] [DH-DD(2019)1263]

Documents from the March 2018 briefing:

• Memo by Ms Gheorghe, Director of the Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania (APADOR-CH), March 2018

• Communication from APADOR-CH on the case (2014)

• Latest Action Plan by the Romanian Authorities (2018)

• Judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (in French only)

These cases concern inhuman and/or degrading treatment suffered by the applicants on account of overcrowding and poor material conditions in prisons and police detention facilities and the lack of an effective remedy in this regard; the inadequacy of the medical care provided to some of the applicants and several other dysfunctions regarding the protection of the prisoners' rights (violations of Article 3; and violation of Article 13 in the case of Marcu). On 25 January 2018, the Government of Romania communicated its “Timetable for the Implementation of measures 2018 – 2024 to resolve the issue of prison overcrowding and conditions of  detention with a view to executing the pilot-judgment Rezmiveș and others against Romania delivered by the ECtHR on 25 April 2017”. In February 2020, the authorities published a new Communication on the case.

As of February 2020, APADOR-CH points out that there are still serious delays in the reduction of overcrowding and measures to improve material conditions in detention, and removal of the compensatory remedy.As for the compensatory mechanism, the previous arrangement was a reduction of sentences for those incarcerated in unsuitable conditions. This system was removed at the end of December 2019 and not replaced by any compensatory mechanism.You can find further details about the situation and the recommendations by APADO-CH in the power point presentation (see above).