It has not been the purpose of the Centre for Legal Resources (CLR) to publicly communicate the main observations today, but following the latest public notice from the responsible authorities, we have to make the subsequent clarifications:
- Following one of the many complaints that CLR receives on a regular basis about cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, today, 27 July, the CLR carried out an unannounced monitoring visit to social care home Căsuța Lu’ Min in Bărdești, Mureș County.
- The CLR monitoring team found that, in addition to the 23 residents of the institution accommodated inside the facility, in the basement of the building 4 persons with severe disabilities lying on mattresses soiled with faeces, urine and blood, with flies on them, who could not defend themselves and could not ask for help (nonverbal and unable to move) were hidden behind a plastic curtain, among piles of rubble, building materials, bags of clothes, old medical equipment.
- One person was in an advanced state of malnutrition (skin and bone), with hip lesions, covered in flies, smelling strongly of faeces
- Another person in the basement was covered in faeces and blood on his face and hands
- The other 2 persons could not move and could not communicate, being particularly frightened when CLR monitors tried to approach them
- At 13:30, as soon as the CLR monitoring team saw the persons in the basement, they urgently called 112 for help.
- By the time the police and rescue teams arrived, another person living in the basement was identified. This person was able to move around and was able to leave the basement to go on the ground floor of the building.
- The CLR experts worked with the authorities for several hours
- After about 4 hours, at the suggestion of a resident and because not all persons could be physically identified, the CLR monitoring team identified another room behind the kitchen, without a door knob, on which was a sign that read “Building Materials”. One of the monitors asked to open the door and found that beyond this, several rooms where found. In one of these rooms, 2 other people in serious condition, trapped in a room of about 3 square meters, with no ventilation, no lighting, were lying in a bed. Access to this space was blocked by a metal table on which several bricks were placed.
- CLR called the ambulance service again for these 2 persons
- CLR continued the dialogue with the other residents, some of whom mentioned that they had been tied up, threatened, beaten by the staff and the management of the social care home, showing injuries specific to the tying of hands.
- As a result of the dialogue with other residents, CLR experts have considered necessary that an assessment of the health status of all the persons in the facility is required
- After more than 8 hours the medical assessment and relocation of all residents was ordered and the social care home is now closed.
- The CLR experts remained on site until we have ensured that all persons are safely picked up by the authorities.
As the persons found by the CLR here are not only from Mures Couunty but also from Bucharest and Covasna, having been moved between several centres for several years, CLR appeals to the authorities to treat them with utmost care in relation to their degree of vulnerability.
As per usual, CLR is going to prepare a detailed monitoring report and send it to the responsible authorities as well as to the public.
Photographs of the victims
Photographs of the rooms
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