On 04.06.2020 the European Court of Human Rights has issued a Judgment on cases 2727/19, 7036/19, 9835/19, 12559/19, 17168/19, 17773/19 и 21744/19 in favour of the applicants Milen Ivanov Ivanov, Todor Marinov Todorov, nikola Peychev Ivanov, Pavel Petrov Karakolev, Yordan Georgiev Yordanov, Ivan Blagoev Popov and Valentin Petrov Bivolarski againts the Government of Republic of Bulgaria.
The Court holds that there is a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which reads that no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
In particular Todor Marinov Todorov was admitted to the Belene Prison on May 18th, 2016 and until June 1st, 2016 he was in the Reception ward. During his stay in the Reception ward Todor Todorov was housed in dormitory No. 8, the area of which was 37.5 square meters. During this period, the number of residents varied between 14 and 18 people.
On June 1st, 2016 Todor Todorov was transferred to the 9th group, the 6th room, whose area was also 38 square meters and was inhabited by 18 people.
The buildings of the Belene Prison were built in 1957-1958, heavily depreciated and with narrow corridors.
In the Todor Todorov’s dormitory, a small toilet and a sink were installed, through which only cold water with an unpleasant oudour, greasy and sand flowed, and there was no hot water. The prison-ers put gauze on the tap, which turned black and greasy for five minutes. There was sand, limestone, fuel oil and particulates in the water and practically unsuitable for drinking and prisoners used gauze to strain the water.
The toilet in the bedroom was very small in size - 1 square meter. There was no sink in it, and the sink was in the bedroom and only cold water was flowing from it.
There was no bathroom in the room – such bathroom was used in a separate dirty room twice a week, bathing was allowed to be allowed for 2-3 minutes, after which it had to be rotated.
The toilet in the bedroom was very small in size - 1 square meter. There was no sink in it, and the sink was in the bedroom and only cold water was flowing from it.
There was no bathroom in the room – such bathroom was used in a separate dirty room twice a week, bathing was allowed to be allowed for 2-3 minutes, after which it had to be rotated.
According to a test report drawn up by the Laboratory Testing Complex at the Regional Health Inspectorate - city of Pleven, samples of bacteria /Coli forms and Escherichia coli/ above the standard tolerance were detected.
Daylight was sufficient, but artificial lighting was insufficient - there was only one luminescent body above the wall door that did not reach the back of the room. There was no artificial lighting on the ceiling and in the back of the room.
The ventilation was also insufficient and was done only by the windows.
There were only 3-4 cabinets in the dormitory, one table, four chairs. There was only one electri-cal outlet that had bare wires, which created the risk of electric shock. Therefore, there was nowhere to turn on the TV set.
The European Court of Human Rights holds that the Government of Republic of Bulgaria is to pay Todor Todorov compensation for non-pecuniary damages in the amount of 1500 Euro.
More details about the procedures in the Bulgarian National Courts you can find here.
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