On June 7, 2019, a case of an illegally kept person was revealed during an unannounced visit to a psychiatric establishment in the capacity of the National Preventive Mechanism.
Particularly, the administration of the psychiatric establishment informed the Human Rights Defender’s representatives that they had already submitted a motion to the court in August 2018 for changing the treatment of the person with mental health issues from compulsory to hospital treatment. However, the discussion of the motion has been continuously delayed.
A private interview was held with the person kept in the psychiatric establishment. According to her, the issue of getting treatment at the psychiatric establishment or being released must be solved after the court decision, which she had been waiting for 11 months.
After examining the documents of the person, it was recorded that she is declared incapable by the court decision, guardianship was prescribed for her and the guardian is her former husband. The person with mental health issues mentioned that she has tense relations with her former husband, a number of disagreements and a conflict of interest regarding visiting the children.
According to the patient, the reason for the court session delays is that her guardian does not attend them periodically. In the medical documents of the person letters were found from the court addressed to the psychiatric establishment about the delays of the sessions.
Based on the aforementioned, the Defender’s Office has initiated a discussion procedure, within the framework of which the Defender addressed official letters to the Supreme Judicial Council and Yerevan Municipality.
The Defender emphasizes that the unacceptable practice of court hearing delays on compulsory treatment has a systemic character and causes grave violations of the rights of persons with mental health issues.
This announcement or the discussion initiated at the Defender’s Office is not aimed at interfering with the realization of the judge’s mandate on a specific case. The Defender’s assessments are based exceptionally on the visit paid to the psychiatric establishment, the apparent examination of the documents, as well as on the private interviews.
The state of ensuring the rights of persons with mental health issues, including the legislative and practical issues of compulsory and non-voluntary treatment still has a systemic character leading to grave violations of human rights. The Human Rights Defender as the National Preventive Mechanism keeps an eye on these issues and all the possible measures will continue to be undertaken towards contributing to their solution.