Inadequate medical care in prisons is a systemic problem in the Republic of Moldova, says the European Court of Human Rights. The Court has handed its judgment in the case of Machina vs. Moldova, where it found the state to be in violation of Articles 3 and 13 of the European Convention, reports IPN.
According to Promo-LEX, the human rights organization that provided legal assistance to the plaintiff, Tatiana Machina is a person with locomotor impairments and, at the time of filing the complaint, she was moving only in a wheelchair. She complained about poor material conditions of detention in penitentiary 13, overcrowding (14-16 inmates in small cells), food of poor quality and insufficient quantity, lack of hygiene and detention in a penitentiary not adapted to the needs of people with special needs. An example is the inability to take a shower or go to the toilet without help, the bed not being adapted to her needs, as well as the impossibility to access the daily walk area or the room set up for the meeting with the lawyer, but also the lack of a caregiver. She was infected with hepatitis C while in detention and was not given the special medical treatment required for her condition.
“In her application to the Court, the applicant complained that the hepatitis infection resulted from the medical negligence in the prison and the inadequate material conditions of detention. The Court emphasizes that the spread of communicable diseases, and in particular tuberculosis, hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, should be a public health issue, particularly in the prison environment. Therefore, in the judgment of January 17, 2023, the Court found that there was a violation of art. 3 of the Convention in the failure to prevent infection with the hepatic virus, but also due to the lack of adequate care of the applicant during her detention. The Court found that the domestic authorities had made no real attempt to find out what had happened and that the delay in carrying out a check (one year after her imprisonment) undermined any possibility of assessing whether the applicant had been infected with hepatitis after her incarceration”, said Promo-LEX.
For this reason, the Court could not establish whether the contamination took place in the prison and therefore concluded that the failure to comply without delay by the competent prison authorities was incompatible with the state’s general obligation to take effective measures, measures aimed at preventing the transmission of hepatitis and other contagious diseases in prisons.
According to the Promo-LEX lawyer Alexandru Postica, the judgment in the Machina case, together with the Court’s judgment in the Cosovan case, reiterates the need for an urgent reform of the penitentiary medical system. This priority was set by the Government of the Republic of Moldova and by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The ECHR ordered that the Government of the Republic of Moldova pay the applicant, within three months, the sum of 9,800 euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 2,500 euros in costs and expenses.
Tatiana Machina was released from detention on July 7, 2016.
