cant complained, under Article 3 of the Convention, about the conditions of his detention from 20 October 1999 to 20 September 2000 in remand prison IZ-39/1. Article 3 of the Convention reads:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
1. The parties' submissions
16. The Government informed the Court that they were unable to provide information on the number of people detained together with the applicant in the same cells because all the relevant records had been destroyed after the expiry of the statutory time-limits for keeping them. They admitted that the number of detainees in the remand prison could have "exceeded the fixed rates". Nevertheless, they maintained that the applicant had been provided with an individual sleeping place. The Government asserted that prison overcrowding is a common problem for virtually all European countries. In the Russian Federation, that situation is caused by objective reasons, such as high criminality and limited capacity in detention facilities. Since 2000 measures have been taken in order to decrease the number of detainees in remand prison IZ-39/l and improve conditions of detention there "in the light of the requirements of the Convention". Thus, in 2003 a new pre-trial detention facility for one hundred and seventy detainees was opened. Furthermore, repair work was carried out in the remand prison. In particular, the lavatory was now separated from the cell by a curtain. The Government enclosed photographs of the cells after the renovation.
17. The Government further maintained that the applicant had never been detained with young offenders. Furthermore, he had never been detained in the basement because there are no cells in the basement of the prison.
18. The Government indicated that they were not in a position to comment on the statements of Mr M.T., Mr Y.V. and Mr A.K., (the applicant's co-detainees), because they had been released in 2000, 2002 and 2004 respectively.
19. The applicant insisted on his original submissions and claimed that his description of conditions in the remand prison was accurate.
2. The Court's assessment
(a) Establishment of facts
20. The parties agreed upon the size of the two cells in which the applicant had been detained. Furthermore, it is not disputed that the applicant was allowed outdoor activity for one or two hours a day; the rest of the time he was confined to his cell where he ate, slept and used the toilet together with his cellmates.
21. The Court notes that the parties have disputed certain aspects of the conditions of the applicant's detention in facility No. IZ-39/1 in Kaliningrad. However, there is no need for the Court to establish the veracity of each and every allegation because it finds a violation of Article 3 on the basis of facts presented to it, which the respondent Government did not dispute or failed to rebut.
22. The focal point for the Court's assessment is the living space afforded to the applicant in the remand prison. According to the applicant, the number of inmates there had considerably exceeded their design capacity. Thus, at best, in both cells, the inmates had less than one square metre of space per person. Sometimes, the overcrowding was even more severe. The number of bunk beds was significantly smaller than the number of detainees.
23. The Court further notes that the applicant's own account on this matter is corroborated by his cellmates' testimony. There is nothing in the case file or in the Government's submissions that might cast doubt on the credibility of their testimony.
24. Finally, the Court notes that it is already familiar with the situation in the prison in question, IZ-39/1. This same prison appeared in the case of Mayzit v. Russia, where the Cou
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