MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2024)1514/H46-31

5 December 2024

1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH)   H46-31 Rezmiveș and Others and Bragadireanu group v. Romania (Applications Nos. 61467/12 and 22088/04) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments   Reference documents CM/Notes/1514/H46-31

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         welcomed the presence of the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice demonstrating Romania’s commitment to comply with the judgments of the Court;

2.         recalled that these cases concern the longstanding structural problems of overcrowding and inhuman and degrading conditions of detention in prisons and police arrest and detention centres in Romania, as well as the difficulties in effectively implementing a Convention-compliant system of domestic remedies in this regard;

3.         recalling their strong support to the measures the authorities put forward in their latest action plan to address the substantive problems at the origin of the judgments in this group, noted with interest the information on the progress achieved, in particular in making available new premises to accommodate prisoners, and welcomed the authorities’ continuing commitment to its implementation;

4.         reiterated, however, their concern at the persisting overcrowding in the prison system and regretted that the upward trend observed at their June 2023 examination has continued, in particular in the semi-open regime; stressed once again that measures designed to reduce prison population and to keep it at manageable levels, embedded in a rational and coherent penal policy, are crucial to achieving a lasting solution;

5.         recalled in this respect that the authorities are considering a reform of the State’s penal policy and encouraged them to implement comprehensive measures in this regard, in line with the relevant European guidelines and recommendations; expressed satisfaction with the measures taken to combat reoffending and support social reintegration and urged the authorities to further strengthen the capacity of the Probation Service and adopt the legislative proposal on the status of probation personnel;

6.         as regards overcrowding and material conditions in prisons, noted with interest the start of the construction of two new prisons and the availability of new premises for the accommodation of prisoners; strongly called upon the authorities to complete the planed infrastructure work on time, to ensure that the existing premises are kept in an adequate state of repair and to continue to correct the imbalances in the distribution of prisoners in particular in the semi-open regime;

7.         welcomed the authorities’ initiative to rely on co-operation with the Council of Europe Division for
Co-operation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty with support from the Human Rights Trust Fund to strengthen the provision of health and mental health services to prisoners; invited them to provide additional information on the adoption and implementation of the strategy to tackle the shortage of staff in the prison medical system;

8.         reiterated their call on the authorities to demonstrate that their plans to modernise and renew the existing network of police arrest and detention centres ensure that the new and the renovated facilities will offer conditions adapted to the length of the prisoners’ stay, including an appropriate regime of out-of-cell activities and suitably equipped premises for such activities; strongly encouraged the authorities to facilitate the swift transfer of persons from police custody to prison facilities;

9.         as regards the domestic system of remedies, welcomed the consolidation of the jurisprudential effective compensatory remedy and encouraged the authorities to strengthen the role of the post-sentencing judge supervising the execution of sentences which could remedy various aspects related to material conditions of detention, pending the reduction of the prison population to a level which would allow the proper functioning of the preventive remedy;

10.       noted the information submitted by the authorities shortly before and during the meeting providing an update on repair works and the number of detention places, as well as numerous examples of domestic case-law of the use of the preventive remedy before the post-sentencing judge and instructed the Secretariat to assess it; requested the authorities to provide information on the other matters referred to above and on the questions outlined in the Secretariat’s analysis by 30 September 2025, and decided to resume consideration of this group of cases at their Human Rights meeting in December 2025.