The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recommends Belgium to take measures to improve prison conditions, forcing the country to pay damages to a former prisoner of Romanian origin who was mistreated.
According to the court in Strasbourg, "The problems caused by prison overcrowding in Belgium and hygiene problems as well as how old prisons are is a matter of concern not only for the plaintiff’s situation," AFP reports.
The plaintiff, Marin Vasilescu, a Romanian citizen born in 1970 who was held in Belgium between 2011 to 2012, complained that he was forced to sleep on a mattress placed on the floor for a few weeks, he did not always have drinking water and no domestic water and that the space was very small.
Considering it was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, referring to "inhuman and degrading treatment", the court in Strasbourg commits Belgium to pay the former inmate damages of $ 10,000.