Strasbourg Sentences Bulgaria for Inhuman Treatment of Inmate

The building of the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. File photo

An inmate, who was jailed at the prison in Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna, had won a case against the State in the European Human Rights Court in Strasburg.

The news was reported Tuesday by the "24 Chassa" (24 Hours) daily.

The man was in jail between 2002 and 2009, and won the case on the grounds of inhuman and humiliating treatment and conditions at the penitentiary.

The magistrates ruled that Bulgaria has violated the European Human Rights Convention and the prisoner was subject to inhumane and humiliating conditions, without adequate access to running water and restroom, which were reduced to three times a day instead of all the time.

At other times he had to use a bucket inside the cell as toilet, often while other inmates were there as well. The Court further established that the jail was infested by rats; the cells were cold and humid, and the prisoner could bathe only once every two weeks.

The Strasbourg Court stresses there were violations, even though the claimant had received compensations in the amount of BGN 500 from local Courts, saying such compensation was too low, and only for part of the jail term.

Bulgaria was sentenced also for the penitentiary's administration constantly checking the prisoner's correspondence and because the legal process against him dragged for too long.

The Bulgarian State now has to pay the man EUR 7 000 in compensations.

Recently, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, BHC, citing their own study, announced that the overcrowding of prisons in the largest Bulgarian cities remains a huge problem, triggering a number of human rights violations.

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