This report addresses the admissibility of a petition that alleged Ecuador failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), including the right to humane treatment. Wellington Geovanny Peñafiel Parraga was a former National Police officer who suffered psychological distress allegedly as a result of treatment he received during a …Read more

The petitioner sued the Bolivian State (“the State”) for numerous violations regarding her treatment in prison. The present case is deciding whether this petition is admissible before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“the Commission”). There is disagreement between the parties as to the facts. Marcela Alejandra Porco, an Argentine citizen, was detained in the …Read more

Applicant, a German national, alleged violations under Article 5 (right to liberty and security of person), Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) and Article 8 (right to respect for his private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning her involuntary placement and medical treatment in a private clinic …Read more

This joint appeal involved two cases wherein mentally ill individuals were released from psychiatric hospitals into the care of their families. In File 152.647, Jorge Sandro Hernandez Tacuri had been repeatedly admitted into psychiatric hospitals because he suffered from a variety of mental psychosis, including schizophrenia and epilepsy. After treatment in the psychiatric hospital, Jorge …Read more

The Applicant, Mr Wilibald Rudolf Matter, had been undergoing psychiatric treatment for twenty years for a continually worsening syndrome of dementia. As a result, the Čadca District Court restricted his legal capacity in 1976, and later in 1983 deprived him of all legal capacity on the ground that he suffered from an “explosive and vexatious form …Read more

Hutchison Reid, the respondent, was convicted of culpable homicide in 1967. He was made the subject of a hospital order and a restriction order without any time limit under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1955 (the Criminal Procedure Act). A restriction order under the Criminal Procedure Act could only be made if the person posed …Read more

The appellant was schizophrenic and was arrested for attacking pedestrians on the street with a knife. Prior to the incident he had been hearing voices. The appellant was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon for purposes dangerous to the public peace. He was found not criminally responsible (“NCR”) …Read more

The petitioner, David Riggins, challenged his criminal convictions on the basis that his liberty and right to due process of the law, as protected by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, were violated when the State of Nevada forcibly administered him with an antipsychotic drug during his trial. In November 1987, Riggins …Read more

Swain was arrested and charged with assault and aggravated assault. Due to his bizarre conduct during the incident and at the time of his arrest, Swain was transferred from jail to a mental health centre before trial. His condition improved with medication, and he was conditionally released into the community before trial. Swain continued to …Read more

The appellants were found guilty of first degree murder. At trial, expert evidence was given that the appellants suffered from a paranoid psychosis which made them believe they could rule the world, and in order to achieve this they had to kill. Although they were aware that the laws of Canada existed, the appellants did …Read more