St. PETERSBURG, May 24. The Constitutional Court (CC) of Russia sent for review the case of a convicted Russian who was transferred from a colony to a pre-trial detention center, maintaining the conditions of detention, while in a pre-trial detention center he was supposed to have twice as much «living space», follows from the materials of the court.
The case on the verification of the constitutionality of the third part of Article 77.1 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Russian Federation was considered in connection with the complaint of the citizen of the Russian Federation Maxim Piskarev.
Background
As the press service of the Constitutional Court of Russia informs, Piskarev was sentenced to 5 years in a strict regime correctional colony in Surgut. His term expired in April 2018, however, in the summer of 2017, the convict was transferred to SIZO-1 in the Arkhangelsk Region in connection with the investigation of a new criminal case. From there, he was sent to another pre-trial detention center and in February 2020 he again ended up in SIZO-1.
Piskarev appealed to the court with a complaint that he was kept in the SIZO in overcrowded cells with an area of 40 square meters, where from 12 to 20 people were with him. As the court ruled, he was transferred to a pre-trial detention center as a convict, who are kept in a pre-trial detention center on the conditions of serving their sentence in a correctional institution, where they are entitled to two square meters of living space.
“The Applicant asks that the contested legal provision be recognized as inconsistent… with the constitution… since it allows convicts left in a pre-trial detention center or transferred to it to participate in investigative actions or court proceedings to be kept in cells, the sanitary area of which per person is less than three square meters , while for persons suspected or accused of committing a crime held in a pre-trial detention center for whom a measure of restraint in the form of detention is chosen, the norm of such an area per person is set at four square meters,» the position of the applicant is given in the decision of the Constitutional Court.
Position of the court
As the Constitutional Court pointed out, the very fact of leaving those sentenced to deprivation of liberty in a pre-trial detention center or transfer to it «does not and cannot change the grounds and conditions for the execution of punishment,» as well as the legal status of the convict. At the same time, the conditions of detention should not be worse than those of suspects and defendants who are taken into custody and are in a pre-trial detention center.
These conditions include the norm of the sanitary area. According to the law «On the Detention of Suspected and Accused of Committing Crimes,» it is defined as four square meters per person. Different standards of sanitary space depending on the status of a person held in a pre-trial detention center are not established by law, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation noted.
“The challenged norm does not contradict the constitution of the Russian Federation. It assumes that for such persons as the applicant, the size of the area in the SIZO cell is determined not in accordance with the norms of living space established for convicts in correctional colonies (two meters), but in an amount not less than than the norm of the sanitary area according to the law «On the Detention of Suspected and Accused of Committing Crimes», — the position of the Constitutional Court is given in the release.
The Constitutional Court pointed out that the legislator could provide for higher space standards in a pre-trial detention center for cases similar to the applicant's case. If this cannot be ensured, then the legislator has the right to introduce a preferential offset for the time spent in a pre-trial detention center for convicts during the term of imprisonment.
«A person sentenced to imprisonment with serving a sentence in a correctional colony, left in a pre-trial detention center or transferred there to participate in investigative actions or court proceedings, has the right to demand compensation for harm associated with a violation of the conditions of his detention. The applicant's case is subject to review,» — is to release.