The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held in the recent case Bureš vs Czech Republic that both the application of restraint on a person with mental disability and the State’s failure to take measures to prevent torture and ill treatment constitute serious infringements to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In the case Bureš vs Czech Republic, the applicant Lukáš Bureš, a young man with mental disability, overdosed on medication prescribed by a psychiatrist in 2007 and was brought by the police to a sobering up centre, where he was immediately strapped with restraining belts to a bed for long hours resulting in physical injuries. Once out of the hospital, Mr. Bureš brought criminal charges for the ill-treatment he had suffered. Despite clear evidence that there was no justification for the use of restraints, the public prosecutor decided not to prosecute and no one was held accountable.

The applicant‘s restraint was not a medical treatment that he could refuse. Moreover the Court recognised that restraint and force were applied without being strictly necessary to the applicant’s conduct. It therefore attested the State’s failure to provide practical and effective protection of the rights guaranteed under Article 3 of the ECHR which provides that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Article 3 of the ECHR enshrines one of the most fundamental values of a democratic society.

The court recognises the special vulnerability of mentally disabled persons and urged the Czech Republic and all States party to the ECHR to protect people with disabilities from torture and ill treatment in all settings.

The ECtHR’s judgement joins the recent raising of concern of the United Nations Committee against torture who indicated in its last report that placement of persons with intellectual and mental disabilities in institutions without their consent, the use of restraint measures and solitary confinement were violating the prohibition of torture and ill treatment under international human rights law.

e-Journal of Inclusion Europe, 26/10/2012