6.  The applicant was born in 1965. When he lodged his application he was in prison serving a sentence for economic offences.
7.  In 2002 the National Anti-Corruption Prosecution Service commenced proceedings against the applicant on charges of involvement in a vast criminal network operating in the economic field, involving several dozen individuals and some one hundred business companies. With the complicity of bank employees, fraudulent appropriations were granted to those companies, which money was then misused for the benefit of the accused.
8.  By final judgment of 28 February 2013 the High Court of Cassation and Justice convicted the applicant on conspiracy charges, sentencing him to three years, four months’ imprisonment.
9.  Meanwhile, in November 2012, the applicant had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. At that time the illness had already reached an advanced stage and the applicant displayed bone metastases, brain haematoma and intraocular haemorrhages. On 27 November 2012 the applicant had been admitted to the Bucharest Institute of Oncology, from which he had been discharged on 11 January 2013. From 14 to 18 January 2013 he had once again been admitted to hospital. He had undergone prostate surgery and begun chemotherapy. He had subsequently had several short stays in hospital. In January 2013 the diagnosis reached by the oncologist had emphasised the seriousness of the applicant’s condition. The prognosis was that he had a short time to live given that the disease had spread to the bone, for which condition the existing treatment was insufficient. On 26 February 2013 the applicant was examined by a medical board, which issued him with a certificate of severe disability.
10.  On 28 February 2013 the applicant was taken into Bacău Hospital oncology department. His state had worsened and he was suffering from bone pain. The applicant continued his chemotherapy and remained in hospital until 4 March 2013, when he was handed over to police officers who had come to escort him to Bacău Prison where he was to begin serving his sentence.
11.  On the same day the applicant, through the intermediary of his lawyer, applied to the Bacău County Court for an interruption of his prison sentence on health grounds. He pointed out that since he could not receive his treatment in prison, his life would be in danger.
12.  On 27 March 2013 he was transferred to the Rahova Prison Hospital. On 5 April 2013 he returned to Bacău Prison. On 15 April 2013 he was readmitted to the Rahova Prison Hospital, and then transferred back to Bacău prison on 28 May 2013.
13.  The court commissioned a report on the applicant’s condition from a board of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine. At the board’s request, the applicant underwent several medical examinations, which showed that his condition required radiotherapy sessions and further chemotherapy. Furthermore, it transpired from the medical documents made available to the committee that the applicant had had chemotherapy sessions at Bacău Hospital on 12 April 2013 and at the Bucharest Institute of Oncology on 10 and 17 May 2013.
14.  In its report of 19 June 2013 the board concluded that the applicant’s survival depended on the medical care with which he was being provided and a complex form of treatment which he could only receive in specialised clinics operating under the Ministry of Health. Consequently, it considered that the court had to order either an interruption of the applicant’s sentence or his hospitalisation under supervision in one of the aforementioned establishments.
15.  On 25 June 2013 the court allowed the applicant’s request and ordered a three-month interruption of his sentence. Having regard to the seriousness of the applicant’s illness, it ruled that hospitalisation under supervision would considerably reduce his chances of survival and recovery owing to the stress and mental suffering caused by the continued execution of his sentence. Moreover, the court emphasised that the applicant posed no threat to public order, that the sentence, one third of which had already been served, was reasonably short and that the applicant’s conduct had been good throughout the criminal proceedings. The prosecution appealed.
16.  The applicant was released on the same day. On 4 and 19 July 2013 he underwent chemotherapy at Bacău Hospital and continued the treatment on 1 and 16 August 2013 at the Bucharest Institute of Oncology.
17.  On 29 August 2013 the Bacău Court of Appeal considered the prosecution appeal. By final judgment delivered the same day, it allowed the appeal and dismissed the applicant’s request. Relying on Articles 455 and 453 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereafter “the CPP” - see paragraph 34 below), the Court of Appeal ruled that the interruption of the applicant’s sentence was unjustified provided that his treatment could continue, under guard, in a civil hospital. In a dissenting opinion, one of the judges on the trial bench considered that the sentence should be interrupted on humanitarian grounds; consequently, having regard to the applicant’s condition, he considered that his continued detention was in breach of the proportionality principle and reduced his chances of survival.
18.  On 31 August 2013 the applicant was imprisoned in Bacău to serve his sentence. On 24 September 2013 he was transferred to Vaslui Prison. On 27 September 2013 he was admitted to the Rahova Prison hospital. On 3 October 2013 he returned to Vaslui Prison.
19.  On 4 October 2013 the applicant was admitted to Târgu Ocna Prison hospital, diagnosed with “prostatic neoplasia with bone and brain metastases”. On the same day, noting the deterioration in the applicant’s general condition, a multidisciplinary team from the Târgu Ocna Prison hospital placed a prisoner on constant standby to assist the applicant in his everyday activities. That prisoner reportedly assisted the applicant up until the day of his last transfer to Bacău Hospital (see paragraph 28 below).
20.  On 9 October 2013 the applicant was once again transferred to Bacău Prison, from whence he was taken, on the same day, to the Bacău Hospital oncology department. He was unable to move, was suffering from severe bone pain and had almost completely lost his sight and hearing. Furthermore, he was also showing signs of severe depression. His condition was so severe that he could no longer undergo chemotherapy, which was replaced by palliative care.
21.  The applicant remained in the Bacău Hospital oncology department until 24 October 2013, when he was transferred to Iaşi Prison. On 28 October 2013 he was taken into the Iaşi Regional Institute of Oncology for five palliative radiotherapy sessions geared to alleviating his bone pain. He remained in the institute until 1 November 2013. He lost his sight completely and his depression continued.
22.  On 5 November 2013 he was transferred to Vaslui Prison. On 6 November 2013 he was admitted to the Târgu Ocna Prison hospital where he stayed until 12 November 2013, when he was transferred to Bacău Prison.
23.  On 22 November 2013 the judge delegated to Bacău Prison granted the applicant the most favourable possible detention regime, allowing him to move around inside prison and to take part in outdoor activities unsupervised.
24.  Still on 22 November 2013, the applicant was admitted to the Bacău Hospital oncology department. The senior medical officer said that the applicant’s condition could deteriorate suddenly and that he therefore needed round-the-clock medical care. From 25 to 27 November 2013 the applicant received palliative care in the same hospital before being transferred to Bacău Prison and then to the Târgu Ocna Prison hospital.
25.  In reply to a request from the applicant to be released on licence, the Prison Director told him that his request would be examined in 2015.
26.  The applicant wrote to the President of the Romanian Republic and the Director of Târgu Ocna Prison to request their assistance regarding his release. He explained that he was dying and that he wanted to have his family present. He pointed out that he was now bedridden, blind and deaf, and that there was no one in prison to assist him in his everyday activities. He added that the doctors had been reluctant to treat him because had was keep under guard and in handcuffs.
27.  The National Administration of Prison Authorities replied that only a court could order his release.
28.  On 4 December 2013 the applicant was transferred to Bacău Prison and then to Bacău Hospital, where he remained until 7 December 2013. On that date he was transferred to the Târgu Ocna Prison Hospital. On 19 December 2013 he returned to Bacău Prison and the same day was admitted to the Bacău Hospital oncology department. He died there on 24 December 2013.
29.  It transpires from the medical files included in the case file that between 24 January 2013 and 24 December 2013, the date of his death, the applicant was admitted to Bacău hospital eighteen times, including several hospital stays lasting several days. During those stays he had some fifteen chemotherapy sessions, usually at fortnightly intervals: prior to 24 October 2013 in the framework of the cancer treatment, and after that date, in the framework of palliative treatment. He also received various types of treatment for the illnesses caused by the metastatic progression of his prostate cancer.
30.  In a report drawn up at the Government agent’s request, the senior medical officer at the Bacău Hospital oncology department highlighted certain dysfunctions in the administration of the treatment. Drawing on the medical files relating to the applicant’s stays in that hospital, he pointed out that on 14 March 2013 the applicant had begun the chemotherapy without having received the radiotherapy recommended by the doctors in his department. He added that the chemotherapy session scheduled for between 28 and 30 March 2013 had not taken place because the applicant had been absent, having been transferred to the Bucharest Institute of Oncology for examinations. Lastly, he noted that on 18 September 2013 the applicant had arrived late at the hospital to continue his chemotherapy. Furthermore, when the applicant had been hospitalised, he had been guarded by two police officers and had remained handcuffed to the bed, even after he had become blind and deaf and was suffering extreme bone pain.
31.  In a report of 21 September 2015, the Iaşi Regional Institute of Oncology pointed out that between 28 October and 1 November 2013, the applicant had had five radiotherapy sessions, had kept the medical appointments made and had been neither handcuffed nor immobilised during those sessions.
32.  In a report of 22 September 2015, the Bucharest Institute of Oncology pointed out that the applicant had been hospitalised several times in the institute between 27 November 2012 and 24 May 2013, primarily for chemotherapy. The institute’s senior medical officer stated in the report that the applicant had duly respected all his medical appointments and that during his stays at the institute he had not been constrained but had been guarded by prison officers.
33.  According to the information provided by the prison authorities, the applicant had been held in Bacău Prison in a cell measuring 33 m2, which he had shared with six other prisoners. At Rahova Prison hospital he had shared a 38-m2 cell with four other prisoners. At Vaslui Prison, where he was held from 24 to 27 September, from 3 to 4 October and from 5 to 6 November 2013, he had occupied a 14.75-m2 cell with six other prisoners. At Târgu Ocna Prison hospital he had been held in a 48-m2 cell with eight other prisoners. At Iaşi Prison he had remained from 24 October to 5 November 2013 in a 15.92-m2 cell with three other prisoners.