The Crown alleged that the complainant, a 26-year-old woman with the mental age of a three to 6-year-old was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her mother’s partner D.A.I during the four years that he lived in their home. The Crown sought to call the complainant to testify about the alleged assaults. The trial judge found that …Read more

The claimants stated that the deceased was a voluntary psychiatric patient. She was assessed by the hospital as a high risk of suicide attempt as she had done so before. The hospital allowed her home leave for two days. During that period, she committed suicide. The claimants stated that the hospital and its staff were …Read more

The applicant’s son was admitted as a voluntary patient as he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and there was a fear that he might commit suicide. He was kept in a crisis room in the intensive care unit. However, on the first night itself, the applicant’s son jumped out of the window and died. The applicant’s …Read more

S, an adult male diagnosed with schizophrenia, lived for many years with his half-sister and step-mother, his closest living relatives, before they applied in 2000 to the Ruse Regional Court to have S declared legally incapacitated. The court declared S only partially incapacitated. S’s family refused to accept guardianship for S, and the court instead …Read more

Milan Sykora, a Czech national, suffered from a psycho-social disability and did not take his medication because he claimed it negatively affected his eyesight. In November 2000 the Brno Municipal Court deprived Sykora of his capacity to make legal decisions after he failed to collect his pension for four years. The decision was made based …Read more

This case involved an appeal from a decision made by a three-judge court that was convened by the Federal District Court to decide the appropriate remedy for violations of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The violations were the subject of two related Federal District Court cases in California: Coleman v. Brown (1990) …Read more

The Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (“CEHURD”) alleged that Uganda passed laws that were (1) degrading to mentally challenged individuals and (2) contrary to the Ugandan Constitution (“Constitution”). The factual issue at hand involved the claim that people with mental disabilities were being detained for long and indefinite periods of time without due …Read more

Two Ukrainian nationals lodged this complaint against the Ukraine under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (the “Convention”) in 2003. The applicants alleged that they were ill-treated by the police and that no effective investigations of the event took place. One of the applicants also alleged that he had been …Read more

The applicant suffered from a serious bipolar disorder and wished to commit suicide and requested a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital, which is available only on prescription, from several psychiatrists but was unsuccessful. The applicant then contacted various official bodies seeking permission to obtain the substance from a pharmacy without a prescription. The Federal Office …Read more

Mr. Hadzic and Mr. Suljic were detained in the Psychiatric Annex of Zenica Prison. Each claimed that their detention was unlawful under Article 5, section 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention”), which protects the right to liberty and security of person They argued that the Annex was not an appropriate institution for …Read more