CEDH · CASELAW;COMMUNICATEDCASES;ENG — 11 mars 2019

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA6BC7FA7 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:right } .s9793A85B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt } .s5E1364CA { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .s8229ABDD { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center } .s68C46B95 { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center } .s3F59B822 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-transform:uppercase } .sA8776625 { margin-top:18pt; margin-left:29.2pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-indent:-17.6pt; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sD3B63DAD { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt }   Communicated on 11 March 2019   FIRST SECTION Application no. 2923/18 Zbigniew ORŁOWSKI against Poland lodged on 12 March 2018 STATEMENT OF FACTS The applicant, Mr Zbigniew Orłowski, is a Polish national who was born in 1959 and lives in Czerwionka-Leszczyny. A.     The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. On 18 December 2014 the applicant started serving a prison sentence in Racibórz Prison. The next day he was placed in cell no. 430. On an unspecified date he was transferred to cell no. 207, from which, on 11   March 2015, he was transferred to cell no. 248, where he stayed until an unspecified date in 2015. On 30 December 2014 he lodged a civil claim against that prison, alleging, among other things, that the toilet annexes in cells in which he had been detained had been inadequately separated from the rest of the cell – they had had a partition of only 120 cm in height. The applicant claimed 2,000   Polish zlotys (PLN – approximately 500 euros (EUR)) in compensation. The defendant acknowledged that the partition had indeed been 120-cm high, but argued that that had been enough to protect the applicant’s privacy. On 23 March 2016 the Gliwice Regional Court ( Sąd Okręgowy ) dismissed the applicant’s claim and ordered him to pay PLN   480 (approximately EUR 120) in respect of the costs of the legal representation to the State Treasury. The court established that in each cell the toilet annex had been separated from the rest of the cell by a partition of at least 120   cm in height and that such a height was enough to guarantee privacy. The court noted that it was possible that other inmates could have looked inside, but they would have had to have done so intentionally. The applicant appealed against that judgment. On 20 October 2017 the Katowice Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the applicant, but exempted him from paying the legal costs of the defendant incurred before the first-instance court. B.     Relevant domestic law and practice A detailed description of the relevant domestic law and practice governing conditions of detention in Poland and domestic remedies available to detainees alleging that inadequate conditions are set out in the Court’s pilot judgments in the cases of Orchowski v. Poland (no.   17885/04, §§   75‑85, 22 October 2009) and Norbert Sikorski v. Poland (no.   17599/05, §§   45‑88, 22 October 2009). More recent developments are described in the Court’s decision in the case of Łatak v.   Poland (no.   52070/08, §§ 25-54, 12   October 2010). The issue of the separation of toilet annexes is described in the case of Szafrański v. Poland (no. 17249/12, §§ 37-41, 15 December 2015). COMPLAINT The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention of a lack of adequate separation to protect his privacy in the toilet annexes in the cells in which he had been placed. QUESTION TO THE PARTIES Has there been a lack of respect for the applicant’s private life, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention? Reference is made to the manner in which cells nos. 430, 207 and 248 of Racibórz Prison, where the applicant was detained from 19 December 2014 to an unspecified date in 2015, were at the material time fitted with toilet annexes and to the alleged resulting lack of privacy. The parties are asked to refer to the Court’s judgment in the case of Szafrański v. Poland (no. 17249/12, §§ 37-41, 15 December 2015).