MOSCOW, October 4 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled to grant compensations totaling to 52,000 euros to three applicants from Russia, who had alleged inadequate medical care in detention.

Vladimir Klimov, who was serving a 15-year sentence for murder, was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which, according to Russian law, could have warranted his release. Nevertheless, all his respective requests were rejected by courts on the ground that he was a particular danger to society and received treatment in detention. Klimov died in April of 2015.

Artem Maylenskiy suffering from HIV and tuberculosis was convicted of murder in 2014 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In spite of the fact that a medical panel found him eligible for early release, his application was rejected by courts due to his prior convictions and his failure to reform. Maylenskiy died in a civilian hospital in October of 2015.

In these two cases (in 2014 and 2015 respectively) ECHR applied interim measures indicating to the Russian Government that the applicants should immediately be examined by independent medical experts. In both cases experts found that applicants received inadequate medical care in detention.

Nikolay Piskunov was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2012. After he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he applied for an early release. A local court dismissed his application on the ground that he had been adequately treated in detention. Piskunov had complained to various authorities about the quality of the medical care he received in detention, but to no avail.

In all three cases the applicants relied on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention), whereas Piskunov also alleged violation of his other rights, in particular complaining about the appalling conditions of his detention in breach of Article 3 and about the fact that he had no effe4ctive remedies for his complaints either about his inadequate medical care or the conditions of his detention in breach of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).

ECHR held to award the following compensations to the applicants: 20,000 euro to Klimov’s sister and Maylenskiy’s mother each and 12,000 euros to Piskunov.