Europe's top rights court today condemned Russia's 24-hour camera surveillance of prisoners, ruling that it was an arbitrary violation of their right to privacy. The European Court of Human Rights also found that two of the three plaintiffs had also been denied their right to an effective legal remedy, after the Russian courts rejected their complaints.<br />'' <br />'' Two prisoners and a former inmate were challenging the practice in Russian prisons of constant surveillance, not just by guards but by closed-circuit cameras inside their cells.<br />'' <br />'' Two of the three plaintiffs, who were held in the same prison, said the cameras installed over the doorway gave a clear view of most of the cell, including the bed.<br />''<br />'' However, the Strasbourg-base court accepted that some surveillance of some parts of prisons might be necessary and that some inmates might need to be monitored permanently.<br />