Died in prison due to physical deterioration and inadequate care: the ECHR rules against Italia
Antonio Raddi died after losing 30 kilos. The state will have to pay 26,000 euros to his family
Key points
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Italia over the death of 28-year-old Antonio Raddi, in Turin prison after he lost 30 kg in seven months. Whilst in custody, the young man claimed he was unable to eat. Following a complaint by his family, the public prosecutor’s office in Turin had investigated the case; however, upon completion of the enquiries, it requested and obtained the case to be dismissed, finding no criminal liability for inadequate medical supervision.
Refusal to eat
The Court upheld an appeal lodged by lawyers Gianluca Vitale and Federico Milano and ruled against Italia for violating the articles on respect for the right to life and on the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment in prisons. Raddi, who had been held in Ivrea prison before being transferred to Turin, suffered from anxiety and depression, and was detained in the wing designated for substance abuse. His refusal to eat had been interpreted as a manipulative strategy to gain access to alternative measures. However, according to the European judges, despite reports from the prisoners’ ombudsman, the authorities failed to ascertain his actual intention and the true reasons behind his refusal of food and medical treatment, including a scheduled hospital admission, the latter circumstance being deemed such as to break the causal link between the death, which occurred after three days in a coma, and the medical care which, according to the ECHR, could not be considered adequate or sufficient.
Furthermore, in the view of the Strasbourg judges, the failure to seek treatment had been occasional and linked to periods of isolation. In the ECHR’s opinion, it cannot therefore be argued that the authorities did ‘everything reasonably possible, in good faith and in a timely manner, to try to avert the fatal outcome’. The State will now have to pay the family 26,000 euros in damages and costs. According to lawyer Gianluca Vitale, the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling “is a condemnation of an entire system that has failed”.
