5.  The applicant was born in 1972 and is currently detained in Chișinău.
6.  On 17 March 2010 the applicant was arrested by police office and charged with fraud and forgery of official documents. She was placed in the detention centre of the General Directorate for Fighting Organised Crime of the Ministry of the Interior (“the GDFOC”).
7.  According to the applicant, she was held there in an underground cell which offered substandard conditions of detention.
8.  The applicant further submitted that she was transferred to Prison no. 13, where she was detained in a cell with sixteen other inmates and was subjected to passive smoking. She was not provided with bedding and was not able to sleep normally. The cell was infested with vermin and the food was of a very poor quality.
9.  According to the Government, the applicant was transferred from the detention facility of the Ministry of the Interior to Prison no. 13 on 29 March 2010. On 30 March 2011 she was released from detention and was placed under house arrest. On 26 January 2012, after having been declared a wanted person, the applicant was again arrested and again placed in detention in Prison no. 13. On 19 September 2012 she was released from prison and was placed under house arrest. On 5 June 2013 the applicant was again placed in detention in Prison no. 13. On 10 June 2013 the Centru District Court found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced her to thirteen years and six months’ imprisonment. The case was pending before the Chişinău Court of Appeal at the time of the parties’ observations.
10.  According to the Government, during her detention in Prison no. 13 after 5 June 2013 the applicant was held in cells nos. 108 and 110, each designed to hold eight detainees and measuring 18 sq. m, and in cell no. 109 designed to hold six detainees and measuring 18 sq. m. Cell no. 109 was lit by a 100-W bulb and had a window, as well as a tap and a toilet separated from the rest of the cell by a partition. All the cells were regularly disinfected.
11.  On 26 February 2003 the applicant was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (“NHL” – a type of blood cancer). This disease affected her spleen, bone marrow and lymph nodes. She was also diagnosed with chronic hepatitis.
12.  According to the applicant, while being detained in the detention facility of the GDFOC, her medical treatment was interrupted and the GDFOC administration refused to transfer her to a hospital. After she had been transferred to Prison no. 13, she was not provided the medical assistance required for her condition.
13.  According to the applicant, while in detention, her state of health deteriorated. In both detention facilities there was no specialist oncologist and chemotherapy was unavailable. The applicant undertook her last chemotherapy session in a specialist civilian hospital in April 2013 while under house arrest. Following an enquiry lodged in December 2013 by the applicant’s lawyer about the medical care received by the applicant while in detention, the Prisons Authority replied on 14 February 2014 that she had been registered as an oncology patient since 5 June 2013 and had been provided with medical treatment in line with her diagnosis.
14.  According to two extracts from the applicant’s medical records dated 26 June 2014 and 9 July 2015 and signed by the head and the deputy head of the medical unit of Prison no. 13, the applicant was in need of specific medical treatment from the Institute of Oncology and her medical condition was qualified as being of medium seriousness.
15.  The Government submitted that from 24 April 2010 to 9 July 2012 the applicant had refused on several occasions to be hospitalised either in the prison hospital (Prison no. 16) or in the medical section of Prison no. 13. On two occasions the applicant had refused to undergo inpatient treatment at the Institute of Oncology, which was a specialist civilian hospital. The applicant had been examined on several occasions by a therapist and a haematologist and given medical treatment. Every year, the Prisons Authority concluded a service contract, with a budget amounting to 35,000 Moldovan lei (MDL – approximately 1,555 euros (EUR)), with the Institute of Oncology. Accordingly, specific types of treatment such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy were available.
16.  The Court refers to the relevant material cited in its previous case-law concerning the Republic of Moldova (see, for instance, Shishanov v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 11353/06, §§ 50-61, 15 September 2015, and Valentin Baştovoi v. Republic of Moldova, no. 40614/14, §§ 13-14, 28 November 2017).
17.  In its reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015 on conditions of detention, the Centre for Human Rights in Moldova (“the Human Rights Centre”, which also acts as the Moldovan Ombudsman) found serious problems in Prison no. 13, notably concerning overcrowding, food quality, ventilation and access to daylight. In view of its findings it recommended in its reports for 2014 and 2015 that Prison no. 13 be closed or, if that was not possible, that the conditions of detention there be urgently improved.
18.  The relevant parts of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“the CPT”) report concerning its visit to the Republic of Moldova between 14 and 25 September 2015 read as follows:
“44.  Prison no. 13 in Chișinău has been visited by the Committee on several occasions. Being one of the oldest prisons in the country (dating from the 1850s), its replacement by a new prison establishment has long been planned. The delegation was informed during the 2015 visit that the opening of a new 1,500-place remand prison in the Chișinău area, financed in large part by a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank, was now envisaged for June 2018.
Chișinău Prison, with an official capacity of 1,000 places, remains the largest prison establishment in the Republic of Moldova and operates primarily as a remand facility, with a very high turnover of prisoners (according to the management, between 13,000 and 15,000 prisoners were admitted to the prison every year). At the time of the visit, the establishment was accommodating 1,186 inmates in three separate accommodation blocks, including 81 female adults and 22 male juveniles. The inmate population also included 56 sentenced prisoners (who mainly worked in the prison’s general services) and two persons serving administrative sanctions. In addition, eight life-sentenced prisoners were temporarily held in the establishment as they had a case pending before a court in Chișinău.
... 45.  At the time of the 2015 visit, the Moldovan prison population had increased by some 1,300 inmates as compared to the CPT’s previous visit in 2011 and stood at approximately 7,770 (some 20% on remand). This represents an incarceration rate of some 220 per 100,000 inhabitants – one of the highest among Council of Europe member states. The Moldovan authorities recognised that the size of the prison population and the resulting overcrowding in prisons constituted a major challenge. Indeed, the delegation observed for itself that the national standard of at least 4 m2 of living space per prisoner was far from being met in most of the prison establishments visited; in particular at Chișinău and Soroca Prisons, the levels of overcrowding had reached disturbing proportions. In this context, the delegation was told by the authorities that the increase in the number of prisoners was largely attributable to the rising re-offending rates and excessive resort to remand detention, as well as to reluctance on the part of judges to grant early conditional release. 46.  The CPT recommends that the Moldovan authorities make vigorous efforts – in consultation with the prosecutorial and judicial authorities – to eradicate prison overcrowding, in the light of the above-mentioned remarks. In so doing, the authorities should be guided by the relevant Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Recommendation R (99) 22 concerning prison overcrowding and prison population inflation, Recommendation Rec(2000)22 on improving the implementation of the European rules on community sanctions and measures, Recommendation Rec(2003)22 on conditional release (parole), Recommendation Rec(2006)13 on the use of remand in custody, and Recommendation Rec(2010)1 on the Council of Europe Probation Rules.
... 74.  The women’s section at Chișinău Prison displayed shortcomings similar to those observed in the men’s accommodation areas, notably as regards state of repair, access to natural light and living space (for example, eight prisoners in a cell of some 20 m2). It is also a matter of concern that, like their male counterparts, female prisoners generally spent 22 hours confined to their cells; they were usually not offered any other activity apart from two hours of outdoor exercise per day. In this context, the recommendation and the comment made in paragraphs 60 and 62 should be read as applying also to female prisoners at Chișinău Prison. 75.  In both prisons, the delegation received complaints from female prisoners regarding difficulties in obtaining hygiene products. Further, female prisoners at Chișinău Prison, as well as inmates under the initial regime at Rusca Prison, were entitled to shower only once a week.
The CPT recommends that steps be taken at Chișinău and Rusca Prisons to ensure that female prisoners have access to sufficient quantities of personal hygiene products; the specific hygiene needs of women should be addressed in an appropriate manner. Steps should also be taken in these prisons to allow female prisoners more frequent access to shower facilities, taking into account Rule 19.4 of the European Prison Rules.”