The Human Rights Defender initiated a procedure on her
own initiative to discuss the state of ensuring the rights of a detainee held
in the “Hospital for Convicts” penitentiary institution. As a result, on
January 29, a decision was made regarding the violation of the detainee's
rights to health care, physical and mental integrity, and not to be subjected
to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In the context of human rights violations, the Defender
has recorded problems regarding the initiation of legal procedures for
involuntary treatment of a person with mental health problems in the event of
the existence of legislative grounds, subjecting a person to medical
intervention in violation of established standards, compliance with the
legislative procedure and requirements for the use of restraint measures,
implementation of proper medical supervision and documentation when applying a
restraint measure, compliance with legal procedures for keeping a person in
isolation by the administration of a penitentiary institution, involvement of
penitentiary officers in medical interventions performed on persons, maintenance
of medical confidentiality, and other issues.
The results of the monitoring carried out by the Human
Rights Defender's Office within the framework of the status of the national
preventive mechanism indicate that similar cases are continuously encountered
in practice.
The analysis shows that failure to comply with procedures
for involuntary treatment of persons with mental health problems, violations of
procedures for applying means of restraint, failure to ensure proper conditions
of detention, low level of awareness among medical staff and the penitentiary
administration, among others, are a consequence of the lack of proper
supervision.
In order to further eliminate the problems noted, the
Defender submitted proposals to the competent authorities aimed at resolving
them.
At the same time, the Human Rights Defender emphasizes
the importance of cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Justice in
solving problems and the commitment of the competent authorities to solving
problems.
The Defender will remain committed to taking consistent
steps towards addressing the raised issues.
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