MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - The European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia on Thursday to pay 42,600 euros ($59,370) to a prisoner as compensation for inhumane treatment.
Alexander Bakhmutskiy, who is serving a 13-year prison term for fraud, kidnapping, extortion, theft, burglary and other offences, appealed to the Strasbourg Court over "the appalling conditions, unlawfulness and excessive length of his detention."
"The Court found the fact that, during his pre-trial detention in Rostov-on-Don, Mr. Bakhmutskiy had been obliged to live, sleep and use the toilet in the same cell - with less than 1 sq. m. of personal space - as so many other inmates for almost six years had itself been sufficient to cause distress or hardship of an intensity which exceeded the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention," the court said in a press release.
The court ordered Russia to pay the applicant 40,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages and 2,600 euros in costs and expenses.
Russia has lost the majority of cases brought against it in the Strasbourg court. In 2008, the court ruled against Russia 245 times. Around 20% of all complaints made to the court in the past decade have involved Russia.
