Portugal was ordered to pay 34 thousand euros for the maintenance of a patient with schizophrenia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ordered Portugal to pay 34,000 euros for the detention of a patient with paranoid schizophrenia, alleging that the state failed to provide adequate care and that it had health consequences.

According to the decision published on Tuesday in Strasbourg, the ECtHR found that there had been violations of Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment and that the deprivation of liberty of people with mental disabilities must comply with legal standards.

The ECtHR said the detention of Rui Miranda Magro “in a prison facility unsuitable for a person with a mental illness, without adequate care, has caused confusion and fear, which constitutes a violation of his rights,” and called on the Portuguese state to “guarantee adequate living conditions.” and adequate and individualized treatment for the mentally ill.”

The 48-year-old Portuguese national was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2002 and was found guilty by a court in Évora in September 2019 of threatening and sexually assaulting, despite being found not guilty. An order was made to place the accused in a psychiatric institution for a period of up to three years, but the execution of this order was suspended on the condition that the accused undergo psychiatric treatment at the Espirito Santo Hospital in Évora.

However, Ruy Miranda Magro missed meetings and, facing new criminal charges, the court noted a violation of the terms of the suspension, ordering hospitalization in February 2021. In April he was sent to the Júlio de Matos hospital in Lisbon, where he was hospitalized. He did not agree due to a lack of space, and was eventually taken to the psychiatric ward of the Cacxias prison hospital, where he remained until October of that year, awaiting a place outside the prison system.

The applicant, represented in this case before the ECtHR by lawyer Vitor Carreto, argued that he did not receive medical care necessary for his mental condition and that he was treated with excessive amounts of drugs with a prolonged effect, and also argued that the Prison Hospital was in fact not was a psychiatric facility capable of supporting him, which led to a “deterioration in his condition.”

The government argued that Rui Miranda Magro received adequate care and that he was not subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment because, after approximately six months, he was transferred to the Sobral Cid psychiatric hospital in Coimbra. However, the ECHR did not appreciate the government’s arguments and agreed with the Portuguese citizen, determining compensation in the amount of 34 thousand euros, which must be paid by the state within three months.