no. 07-00-721/2022-02 date: 9 October 2023.

OPINION

The opinion was issued regarding the complaint against Penal and Correctional Institution AA in Nis, due to discrimination based on religious beliefs. In the complaint, it was stated that the complainant is serving a prison sentence in the Penal and Correctional Institution in Niš and that, as an Orthodox, he did not receive the food he asked for (oil, sugar, ajvar…) unlike Islamic believers who for Bayram and Ramadan get better meals because they are given olive oil, sugar, rice, flour and two packs of cigarettes each. In the statement of the Penal and Correctional Institution in Nis, it was stated that members of different religions are treated equally, namely that they have the right to a religious ceremony, to hold and read religious literature, to be visited by a priest or other religious official. It is further stated that convicted persons of the Islamic faith, while serving their prison sentences in this Institution, receive half a kilogram of flour and sugar and half a liter of olive oil each on the first and last day of Ramadan, as well as for Kurban Bayram, in order to prepare food in accordance with their religious customs, because during these holidays they do not consume food during the day, and are therefore allowed to get the food that they would get through regular meals during the day, at dinner time, in accordance with religious customs. It was also stated that convicted persons of the Orthodox faith receive a festive lunch on Christmas and Easter and that they are enabled to consume fasting food during the fasting period (Christmas, St. Peter’s Day, Easter and Gospojina), as well as every Wednesday and Friday), as a menu is being formed that convicted persons can choose instead of the regular menu. After receiving the statement, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality was again addressed by AA with a supplementary complaint, indicating that he was suffering harmful consequences because he contacted the Commissioner for protection against discrimination, stating that he was moved to the “Second” pavilion and that he was locked from 24 to 22 hours, that he was denied the right to use a typewriter and that there is poor hygiene in the Institution. The Commissioner requested again that the Penitentiary and Correctional Institution declare these circumstances, and in the Institution’s statement it was specified that the cause of the change of accommodation was the overloading of the accommodation capacities and the implementation of the usual procedures, and that the accommodation of convicted persons in the “Second” pavilion does not differ from accommodation in other pavilions in the closed part of the institution, that the rooms are painted according to the maintenance plan, that the convicts housed in the “Second” pavilion are provided with a stay in the fresh air for 2 hours and that they can use the telephone every day during the walk, as well as that the Basic Court in Niš informed the Niš PCI that it is necessary to confiscate the typewriter from the convicted AA, bearing in mind that he is suspected and indicted of two criminal acts of forgery of documents in which a typewriter was used as a means of execution. After the analysis, the Commissioner found that the Penitentiary and Correctional Institution in Niš, due to different religious customs, justifiably treated convicted persons of the Orthodox and Islamic religions differently so that they could consume food in accordance with their religious customs, which differ from each other in terms of the type of food and the time of their consumption, in order to enable them to exercise religious rights and perform religious ceremonies, which in the case of Islamic customs are also performed during the night. Also, based on established facts and presented evidence, it was established that the change of accommodation and the denial of the right to use a typewriter did not occur because AA filed a complaint with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and requested protection from discrimination. After the proceedings, the Commissioner issued the opinion that the Penal and Correctional Institution in Niš did not violate the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković