On March 26, 2004, the District Court of Moscow upheld a claim to dissolve the religious community of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow (“Community”) and imposed a permanent ban on its activities. The court upheld the claim on various the grounds, which included charges that the Community encouraged its members to commit suicide and/or refused medical …Read more

A.C., a child and a Jehovah’s Witness, suffered from Crohn’s disease. She had signed an advance medical affidavit containing her instructions not to be given blood under any circumstances. At the age of 14, she was admitted to hospital and refused to consent to the receipt of blood. The Director of Child and Family Services …Read more

O. was released from criminal responsibility for violating Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (relating to a contract killing) because the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan determined that O. had committed the act in a state of insanity. O. was sentenced to compulsory outpatient observance and treatment by a …Read more

The eight applicants were women of Roma ethnicity, who suspected that they had been sterilized during caesarian section deliveries at two different hospitals. The applicants obtained legal representation, who attempted to examine and obtain copies of their medical records. These requests were denied by the hospitals. The applicants then brought actions against the hospitals in …Read more

The petitioner, Kracke, was mentally ill and was being subjected to medical treatment without his consent. He was required to take drugs with adverse side effects and had been trying unsuccessfully to convince the medical authorities to let him stop taking them. The drugs were being administered under treatment orders issued pursuant to the Mental …Read more

The applicant, Mr. Shtukaturov, was born in 1982 and first began showing signs of mental illness in 2002. In August 2002, he was held for approximately 8 months in a psychiatric hospital, receiving a diagnosis of simple schizophrenia. On August 3, 2004, Shtukaturov’s mother petitioned the Vasileostrovskiy District Court of St. Petersburg, claiming that her …Read more

E.E., an adult, was in a car accident in 1992. As a result of this accident, she entered into an irreversible vegetative coma. E.E. was not clinically dead, defined as the “irreversible  cessation  of  all  encephalon  functions,” but was clinically in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). She was kept alive through force-feeding by means of …Read more

Jalloh brought an action before the European Court of Human Rights (the Court), arguing that the administration of emetics by force by German officials had constituted a serious interference with his physical integrity and posed a serious threat to his health and life. Jalloh was a suspected drug dealer who was arrested by the police …Read more

In 2002, the ASSOCIATION AGAINST HANDIPHOBIA brought this challenge to Article L. 2123-2 of the Public Health Code, which allows for a guardian judge to impose contraception, sterilization and pregnancy termination on people with mental disabilities after rigorous review. The Association claimed the law was unconstitutional, a violation of the Declaration of the Rights of …Read more

PGK, age 56, was convicted for a sexual violation and placed in a compulsory care facility pursuant to the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003 for a period of three years. PGK has been in the care facility for the past 18 months. PGK has a history of sexual offenses and felonious behavior and …Read more