6.  The applicant was born in 1983 and lived in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region.
7.  On 27 May 2012 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of murder. He remained in detention throughout the investigation and trial.
8.  On 18 January 2014 the Verkhnyaya Pyshma Town Court convicted the applicant of the charges and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment.
9.  The applicant was seriously ill at the time of the arrest. He suffered from advanced HIV, long-term tuberculosis at the stage of lung tissue destruction and chronic hepatitis C.
10.  In June 2012 the applicant was admitted to the tuberculosis unit of the medical wing of remand prison no. IZ-66/1 in Yekaterinburg for treatment. On his admission to prison he had informed the doctor that he had been receiving tuberculosis treatment for several years, but that it had not been successful. A drug regimen based on a combination of five anti‑tuberculosis drugs was prescribed for him. In the second half of 2012 a highly active antiretroviral therapy was ordered by a medical panel for his HIV.
11.  A chest X-ray carried out on 26 September 2012 revealed the formation of lung cavities, showing the further progress of the disease.
12.  On 23 January 2013 drug susceptibility testing was performed. It showed that the applicant’s tuberculosis was resistant to all the drugs he had received since June 2012, when his treatment had begun. No alteration in his treatment took place until 18 April 2013, when the applicant was admitted to Prison Hospital no. 6 in St Donato in Sverdlovsk Region. Given the development of the applicant’s drug resistance, a medical panel at the hospital ordered different antibiotics to be used.
13.  The applicant’s condition improved slightly and on 10 February 2014 he was discharged from the hospital to a medical wing. However, in the following months he started experiencing back pain. In July 2014 a tuberculous infection of the vertebrae was diagnosed and the applicant was readmitted to the prison hospital.
14.  On 26 September 2014 a medical panel found him eligible for early release on health grounds. His application for release was examined by the Leninskiy District Court of Nizhniy Tagil on 27 November 2014. At the hearing the applicant’s doctor testified that he was suffering from serious diseases, that he could not care for himself and that the prospects of his recovery were poor. On the same day the District Court dismissed the application, citing the applicant’s history of previous convictions which, in the court’s opinion, demonstrated that he “had failed to take the path of improvement”. The decision was upheld on appeal by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court on 24 February 2015.
15.  On 12 March 2015 the applicant asked the Court to apply Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and to indicate to the Government that he should be provided with adequate medical care and immediately released. The applicant stated that he was not receiving the necessary medical care and treatment in detention, despite suffering from a life-threatening and rapidly progressing illness. The deterioration of his condition required an urgent medical intervention, which was unavailable in the prison hospital.
16.  On 23 March 2015 the President of the Section, acting upon the applicant’ s request, decided to apply Rules 39 and 41 of the Rules of Court, indicating to the Government that the applicant should be immediately examined by medical experts which were independent from the prison system. They were to determine (1) whether he was receiving adequate treatment in the prison hospital for his condition; (2) whether his state of health was compatible with detention in the conditions of a prison hospital; and (3) whether his condition required his admission to a specialist, possibly civilian, hospital. Furthermore, the Government were to ensure his transfer to a specialist hospital if the medical experts concluded that admission to such a hospital was necessary.
17.  On 7 April 2015 the Government responded to the Court’s letter of 24 March 2015. It submitted documents related to the applicant’s conviction; certificates issued by the head of the detention facility where the applicant had been previously detained, describing the state of his health and giving a list of medical procedures he had undergone; documents showing that the detention facility was authorised to provide medical services to inmates; extracts from the applicant’s medical history; certificates issued by the head of the prison hospital describing the state of the applicant’s health, the quality of the medical treatment and the conditions of his detention; handwritten statements by three of the prison hospital’s staff stating that they had provided the applicant with the necessary care; the report of the special medical panel of 26 September 2014; and copies of the decisions of 27 November 2014 and 24 February 2015 on his applications for early release.
18.  The Government also asserted that the scope and quality of the treatment provided to the applicant in the prison hospital was appropriate for his state of health. However, they admitted that there had been a serious deterioration in the applicant’s condition in 2014. Lastly, they submitted that an examination of the applicant by a medical panel to check his entitlement to early release had been scheduled for 9 April 2015.
19.  On 22 May 2015 the applicant’s representative reported that the independent medical examination had not been carried out by the Government. However, two independent doctors acting at the request of the applicant’s lawyer had assessed the quality of the applicant’s medical treatment in detention and whether his further detention in the prison hospital was appropriate for someone as ill as him. In their report, dated 20 May 2015, the doctors concluded that the medical care provided by the detention authorities had been inadequate, particularly in view of the continued use of ineffective drugs. They also stated that the applicant required spinal surgery owing to the tuberculous infection of the vertebrae and that it was vital he be transferred from the prison hospital to a specialist medical facility.
20.  On 22 May 2015 the Leninskiy District Court of Nizhniy Tagil dismissed the applicant’s second application for release on health grounds, referring to his failure to improve his character.
21.  On 21 August 2015 the Sverdlovsk Regional Court set aside that decision. The court held that the applicant should be released immediately, owing to the state of his health and the absence of disciplinary violations.
22.  After his release the applicant was admitted to a civilian hospital in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, where he died on 3 October 2015.