The applicants, Sergey Anatolyevich Polufakin and Ivan Vladimirovich Chernyshev, are Russian nationals who were born in 1966 and 1977 respectively. They are currently serving sentences for aggravated robbery with violence, destruction of property, illegal possession of arms, possession of drugs and theft of official documents, in correctional facility UE-148/5 in Sviyazhsk (Russia). Mr Polufakin complains about the conditions of his detention in that facility and in remand prisons as well as of transportation by train between those prisons. He also alleges that he was ill-treated by the convoying officers during his transportation. Suffering from hepatitis, Mr Chernyshev complains about a lack of adequate medical treatment in UE-148/5. Both applicants rely on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment). Further relying on Article 6 §§ 1 (right to a fair trial) and 3 (d) (right to obtain attendance and examination of witnesses), they further complain that, at their trial, self-incriminating statements made in their lawyer’s absence were used against them and that they were not given the possibility to cross-examine the prosecution or defence witnesses.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)