$66,000 fine for bad jails

The European Court of Human Rights has awarded 50,000 euros ($66,000) to two Rostov-on-Don residents who were kept in "unacceptable" conditions in a local pretrial detention prison, Interfax reported Wednesday.

The plaintiffs, Svetlana Kazmina and Irina Kovalyova, said they were held in cold, overcrowded cells full of insect parasites, were only allowed to take a shower once a week and were transported to and from the courtroom in a crowded van where inmates had to sit on each other's knees, the report said.

Russian authorities have not commented on the verdict.

(Published by The Moscow Times- December 9, 2010)