ons. In their plea concerning the number of detainees the Government cited statements by the director of the facility indicating that the applicant's cells accommodated five to eight inmates. Those statements were supported by extracts from the registration logs showing the number of detainees in the cells (see paragraph 32 above). The Court however notes that the Government preferred to submit the extracts for certain dates only and finds such incomplete and selective evidence unconvincing. It observes that the Government did not refer to any source of information on the basis of which they had made the assertion that the applicant's cells had never accommodated more than eight persons and did not submit documents on the basis of which that assertion could be verified. The directors' certificates and extracts from the logs are therefore of little evidential value for the Court (see, for similar reasoning, Sudarkov v. Russia, No. 3130/03, § 43, 10 July 2008). The Court also takes note of the Government's acknowledgement that the detention facility had been overpopulated at the material time. It is not convinced by the Government's assertion, which is not supported by conclusive documentary evidence, that the applicant's cell had remained unaffected by that problem.
61. The Court further observes that the applicant's allegations of severe overcrowding and a shortage of sleeping places were corroborated by written depositions by persons held in the same remand centre at the same time. Moreover, a Russian court found her allegations of cramped conditions to be well-founded (see paragraph 29 above). In the absence of conclusive official data as to the number of detainees in the applicant's cells, the Court will examine the issue on the basis of the applicant's submissions.
62. According to the applicant, the number of inmates in cell No. 32 was at times greater than the number of available bunks. The Court therefore finds it established to the standard of proof required under Article 3 of the Convention that cell No. 32 in which the applicant was held for the majority of her detention was at times overcrowded beyond its design capacity and that the applicant had not had a sleeping place she could call her own. She was moreover afforded less than three square metres of personal space and on occasions her personal space was reduced to less than two square metres. Even when the cell was filled below its design capacity and accommodated seven or eight inmates, such occurrences being undisputed by the Government, the applicant was afforded three square metres or less of personal space. The applicant was confined to her cell day and night, save for one hour of daily outdoor exercise. The Court reiterates in this connection that in previous cases where the applicants had at their disposal less than three square metres of personal space, it found that the overcrowding was so severe as to justify in its own right a finding of a violation of Article 3 of the Convention. Accordingly, it was not necessary to assess other aspects of the physical conditions of detention (see, for example, Lind v. Russia, No. 25664/05, § 59, 6 December 2007; Kantyrev v. Russia, No. 37213/02, §§ 50 - 51, 21 June 2007; Andrey Frolov v. Russia, No. 205/02, §§ 47 - 49, 29 March 2007; Mamedova, cited above, §§ 61 - 67; Mayzit v. Russia, No. 63378/00, § 40, 20 January 2005; and Labzov v. Russia, No. 62208/00, § 44, 16 June 2005).
63. Having regard to its case-law on the subject and the material submitted by the parties, the Court notes that the Government have not put forward any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion in the present case. That the applicant was obliged to live, sleep and use the toilet in the same cell as so many other inmates was itself sufficient to cause distress or hardship of an intensity exceeding the unavoidable level of suffering inher
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