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The European Court for Human Rights has communicated the Jereghi (Case nr. 11040/16), Lupoi (Case nr. 17744/16), and Cîrlig (Case nr. 26827/15) cases to the Government of the Republic of Moldova. The complaints are filed under articles 3 (prohibition of torture) and 13 (the right to an effective remedy) of the Convention, and refer to poor detention conditions and bad healthcare in penitentiaries.

In their applications to the European Court of Human Rights, the applicants described: small, narrow, cold, poorly ventilated or unventilated detention spaces; overcrowded cells; poor lighting; limited access to toilets; lack of access to medical services; lack of food for several days or insufficiently caloric food; limitations on access to water; exposure to infections; and other problems.

The issue of poor detention conditions in the penitentiary system of the Republic of Moldova was discussed in the fall of 2016 at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, where the Republic of Moldova received and accepted 12 recommendations regarding the right to not be submitted to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The improvement of detention conditions and medical care in penitentiaries was one of the main recommendations of the United Nations.

The Promo-LEX Association calls on the Government of Moldova to quickly implement the Action Plan (presented to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on October 21st, 2013) on enforcing the decisions in the Becciev, Ciorap and Paladi (DH-DD(2013)1168) group of cases by urgently changing legislation concerning the penitentiary system and detention conditions, allocating more funding for the penitentiary system, improving existing remand detention practices in order to reduce the number of people in custody, creating effective ways to appeal poor detention conditions, and accelerating the construction of the new Chișinău prison.

Given that the communicated cases refer to violations that occurred in Penitentiary Number 13, the Promo-LEX Association calls on the Government to prioritize the following: taking the necessary measures in order to reduce the population of this penitentiary, including by transferring prisoners from Penitentiary Number 13 to other penitentiaries; creating effective compensatory remedies for poor detention conditions and lack of access to health care; and allocating additional financial resources for detainees’ healthcare.

The applicants are represented at the High Court by attorneys from the Promo-LEX Association.  More details can be found here.

For more details, contact: Carolina Bondarciuc, Promo-LEX Press Officer: GSM 060280980, Tel./Fax (+373 22) 45-00-24, e-mail: [email protected]