"Destroyed Lives: Psychiatry Exposed," an exhibit at the Gallery on Solyanka, Moscow, July 2007
Photo: Ëåîíèä Ñòîðîæåâ
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Constitutional Rights of the Mentally Ill
The Constitutional Court of Russia has found unconstitutional a number of clauses of the Criminal Procedure Code concerning persons subjected to compulsory medical treatment, acting on complaints from three citizens who were accused of criminal offenses and subject to forced psychiatric treatment.
In particular, Bryansk resident Sergey Ablamsky, who was charged with criminal slander, stated that a court decision to place him in a psychiatric clinic for examination was made without his participation, since he was not informed of the date and place of the court hearing. Nor was Ablamsky able to find out the results of his psychiatric evaluation. After the evaluation, the court refused to hear his appeals, considering him incompetent.
Yaroslavl resident Olga Lobasheva also complained to the court that she was unable to uphold her interests in court after a psychiatric examination. She had been charged under article 138 of the Criminal Code (“Use of Force against Government Representative”). Government representatives argued that the disputed norms were constitutional, but had to be applied with care. “It is difficult not to agree with the authors of the appeals to the Constitutional Court that law enforcement practice is frequently administered in differing ways,” conceded Federation Council representative at the Court Elena Vinogradova. She expressed the hope that the interpretation of the disputed norms would “make law enforcers realize that the rights of any person, regardless of his condition, are society's highest value.”
The Constitutional Court threw out a number of clauses in the Criminal Procedure Code that prevent the subjects of compulsory medical procedures from exercising their processional rights – having access to the material of their case, participating in court sessions, filing petitions and making appeals. The court found that legal practice allowed the real abilities of these people to be ignored.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 21, 2007
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