the progress being made on an issue of great concern for the Russian penitentiary system: overcrowding.
When the CPT first visited the Russian Federation in November 1998, overcrowding was identified as the most important and urgent challenge facing the prison system. At the beginning of the 2001 visit, the delegation was informed that the remand prison population had decreased by 30,000 since 1 January 2000. An example of that trend was SIZO No. 1 in Vladivostok, which had registered a 30% decrease in the remand prison population over a period of three years.
...
The CPT welcomes the measures taken in recent years by the Russian authorities to address the problem of overcrowding, including instructions issued by the Prosecutor General's Office, aimed at a more selective use of the preventive measure of remand in custody. Nevertheless, the information gathered by the Committee's delegation shows that much remains to be done. In particular, overcrowding is still rampant and regime activities are underdeveloped. In this respect, the CPT reiterates the recommendations made in its previous reports (cf. paragraphs 25 and 30 of the report on the 1998 visit, CPT (99) 26; paragraphs 48 and 50 of the report on the 1999 visit, CPT (2000) 7; paragraph 52 of the report on the 2000 visit, CPT (2001) 2).
...
125. As during previous visits, many prisoners expressed scepticism about the operation of the complaints procedure. In particular, the view was expressed that it was not possible to complain in a confidential manner to an outside authority. In fact, all complaints, regardless of the addressee, were registered by staff in a special book which also contained references to the nature of the complaint. At Colony No. 8, the supervising prosecutor indicated that, during his inspections, he was usually accompanied by senior staff members and prisoners would normally not request to meet him in private "because they know that all complaints usually pass through the colony's administration".
In the light of the above, the CPT reiterates its recommendation that the Russian authorities review the application of complaints procedures, with a view to ensuring that they are operating effectively. If necessary, the existing arrangements should be modified in order to guarantee that prisoners can make complaints to outside bodies on a truly confidential basis."
THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention
74. The applicant complained about the allegedly appalling conditions of his detention in pre-trial detention facility IZ-61/1 of Rostov-on-Don and the conditions of his confinement at the Rostov Regional Court. He relied on Article 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
The applicant also claimed that he did not have at his disposal an effective remedy for the violation of the guarantee against ill-treatment, which is required under Article 13 of the Convention:
"Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in [the] Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority..."
A. Submissions by the parties
75. The Government submitted that the applicant, considering that the conditions of his detention did not comply with the requirements of domestic law, could bring civil proceedings for compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage allegedly caused to him by the conditions described above. However, the applicant did not employ the domestic remedies and did not give the domestic authorities the possibility to remedy the alleged violations at the domestic level.
76. If, however, the Court were to decide otherwise, the Government asserted that the conditions in detention facility IZ-
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