"Unacceptable" French treatment of Algerian inmate condemned by ECtHR

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned France for its "inhuman and degrading treatment" of a disabled Algerian prisoner.

The ruling by the Strasbourg court on Thursday stated that Mohammed Helhal, 43, who is currently serving 30 years in prison for murder and attempted murder at a jail near Poitiers in western France, has not been adequately cared for.

The court's judges said in a statement: "The absence or inadequacy of care, and the fact that he had to be helped by another prisoner to take a shower, subjected him to a level of suffering beyond that which is inherent in the deprivation of liberty."

'Absence of care'

Helhal became paraplegic and incontinent after he fell during an attempted escape from the prison in March 2006.

The Strasbourg court ruled Helhal's continued detention was not incompatible with his disabilities, but the "national authorities had not done everything that could be demanded of them to give Helhal the treatment he needed".

France was ordered to pay 7,000 Euros in damages to the prisoner.