Background
Yevgeniya Volodymyrivna Yamshchykova, who suffered from breast cancer and underwent surgery, was held at the Kyiv Pre-Trial Detention Facility from 8 January 2022 until 15 March 2025, when she was transferred to Kamyanska Detention Facility. She alleged that the medical care available to her in detention was inadequate.
Although she received continuous hormone therapy and periodic examinations, her specialist oncological follow-up was irregular and was interrupted for about one year and eight months. During that period, she was primarily monitored by non-specialist doctors, and domestic courts repeatedly intervened to secure appropriate oncological examinations. She also complained of overcrowding and other poor material conditions in Kyiv SIZO, as well as the absence of an effective domestic remedy for those conditions.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Section unanimously declared the application admissible and found a violation of Article 3. The Court held that the applicant had not received comprehensive and adequate medical care in detention. Her serious condition required prompt, accurate, regular and systematic medical supervision, including a therapeutic strategy suited to preventing deterioration; the interrupted specialist cancer follow-up fell short of that standard.
The Court also found violations concerning the applicant’s detention conditions and the lack of an effective domestic remedy. She had alleged that she was afforded only 2.5 to 2.7 square metres of personal space, alongside inadequate ventilation, temperature, light, water, hygiene, food, exercise, toilet privacy and other conditions. The Court awarded her EUR 9,750 for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and EUR 250 for costs and expenses, plus any applicable tax.
Key Takeaways
- For detainees with serious illnesses, treatment must include regular and appropriate specialist follow-up where the condition requires it.
- Hormone therapy and periodic examinations did not cure the failure to provide sustained specialist oncological monitoring.
- Overcrowding and deficient material conditions in Kyiv SIZO, coupled with no effective domestic remedy, also violated the Convention.
Why It Matters
The judgment applies the Court’s established Article 3 standard to continuity of specialist cancer care in detention. Prison authorities must do more than provide some treatment: they must ensure a coherent and sufficiently regular medical response to a detainee’s serious condition.
It also reiterates Ukraine’s Convention obligations concerning inadequate detention conditions and the need for an effective domestic remedy for complaints about them.