{"id":15435,"date":"2022-03-03T17:08:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T15:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crj.ro\/?p=15435"},"modified":"2023-07-17T15:25:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T12:25:16","slug":"echr-judgments-to-whose-execution-adaptjust-contributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crj.ro\/en\/echr-judgments-to-whose-execution-adaptjust-contributes\/","title":{"rendered":"ECHR judgments to whose execution ADAPTJUST contributes"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Free access to justice means that everyone has the right to apply to the justice system to defend their rights, freedoms and legitimate interests and that they have the right to a fair trial and to have their case resolved within a reasonable time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the context of extremely limited access to justice in Romania for people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, the Centre for Legal Resources, within the framework of the Advocacy for Dignity programme, in partnership with the Public Ministry – Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, has launched the ADAPTJUST Project – Accessible Justice for People with Disabilities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AdaptJust addresses these issues in the light of the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgments on the rights of persons with disabilities. These rulings require Romania to take the necessary steps to ensure that the right to fair justice for people with disabilities is respected.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here are the main ECtHR rulings to which AdaptJust’s activities contribute:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

CLR on behalf of Valentin C\u00e2mpeanu v. Romania, 2014<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mr Valentin C\u00e2mpeanu, a young Roma man with intellectual disabilities, infected with HIV, TB and hepatitis, was transferred between two residential social care centres and then abandoned in the yard of the Psychiatric and Safety Measures Hospital in Poiana Mare, Dolj County. A few hours before his death was pronounced, Mr C\u00e2mpeanu was found by the CLR, locked alone in a room, a warehouse of old furniture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s institutional history, as reconstructed by the CLR in documenting the case, revealed a long series of abuses against him (detailed in the Chronology of Events). After being transferred to several orphanages throughout his childhood, after being detected as HIV positive, then diagnosed with “profound mental retardation” and other HIV-related illnesses, he was successively placed from a social institution to a medical one, without adequate representation and assistance, when he came of age. These transfers were made through decisions that did not involve him, were not communicated to him and which he had no opportunity to challenge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

Read more<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 20 February 2004, the CLR went to the hospital in Poiana Mare and ascertained Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s condition. The report of the CLR’s visit showed that the young man was alone in an unheated room, wearing only a pyjama top and in a bed without underwear; he could not feed himself and could not go to the toilet on his own; the hospital staff refused to assist him, fearing that he might become infected with HIV, so the patient was fed only glucose. The CLR concluded that Mr C\u00e2mpeanu did not receive even basic care.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the report, the CLR stated that it had requested the immediate transfer of Mr C\u00e2mpeanu to the Craiova Infectious Diseases Hospital, the only hospital capable of providing the young man with adequate treatment; the hospital director, however, rejected the request, considering that the patient “is not an urgent case, but a social case” and that, in any case, he would not have survived the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr C\u00e2mpeanu died on the evening of 20 February 2004.<\/b> According to the death certificate issued on 23 February 2004, the immediate cause of death was cardio-respiratory failure. The certificate also listed HIV infection as the “initial morbid condition” and “mental retardation” as “another significant morbid condition”.<\/span><\/p>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The ECtHR found that Mr C\u00e2mpeanu was placed in inadequately equipped medical institutions to treat his medical conditions, transferred from one unit to another without the appropriate diagnosis and the failure of the authorities to provide him with the necessary antiretroviral treatment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2696\ufe0f Violation of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 13 (access to justice).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2696\ufe0f EXCERPTS FROM THE ECHR JUDGMENT<\/h4>\n

“Where such a right of fundamental importance as the right to life or the prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment is involved, Article 13 requires, (…) thorough and effective investigations leading to the identification and punishment of the persons responsible, including effective access of the complainant to the investigation procedure. If the authorities are criticised for failing to protect individuals against the actions of private individuals, Article 13 cannot always fail to imply that the authorities are under an obligation to assume the burden of investigating the allegations. However, <\/span><\/i>the victim or his or her family must have a mechanism to establish, where appropriate, the responsibility of State officials or bodies for acts or omissions involving violations of Convention rights.<\/i><\/b>.\u201d (149)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

“In the present case, the Court has already established that Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s vulnerability, combined with the authorities’ failure to apply the law in force and to provide him with adequate legal assistance, were factors which strengthened the legal basis for its decision to grant the JRC, exceptionally, standing (supra, para. 112). Without the intervention of the CLR, Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s case would never have been brought to the attention of the authorities, whether national or international. However, the Court observes that the initiatives taken by the CLR on behalf of Mr C\u00e2mpeanu are sui generis in nature, all the more so as they did not fall within the existing legal framework on the rights of persons with a mental disability, since that framework was not capable of meeting the specific needs of such persons, in particular in order to provide them with a concrete possibility of having access to the remedies available. In fact, the Court has previously found that the respondent State violated Article 3 or Article 5 of the Convention, in view of the lack of an adequate remedy available to persons with disabilities or as a result of the fact that they had only limited access to such remedies as might have been available.” (151)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201e<\/i><\/b>(…)The Court has already found the defendant State liable under Article 2 for failing to protect Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s life while he was taken into care by the national medical authorities and for failing to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances leading to his death. The Government has not referred to any other procedure which could have allowed the authorities’ responsibility to be established in an independent, public and effective manner. The Court further considers that the possibilities put forward by the Government as evidence of the existence of adequate remedies under Article 13 (supra, paragraph 125) are either insufficient or ineffective, given their limited impact and the lack of procedural safeguards.” (152)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201e<\/i><\/b>In the light of the above considerations, the Court finds that the respondent State has not put in place an adequate scheme to provide redress to persons with mental disabilities who consider themselves victims under Article 2 of the Convention. More specifically, the Court finds a violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 2 of the Convention, as the State has not guaranteed and implemented a legal framework which would have allowed an independent authority to examine the allegations of violation of Mr C\u00e2mpeanu’s right to life.” (153)
\n<\/span><\/i>READ HERE in English<\/a> and in Romanian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\r\n

\u23f3 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS<\/h4>\n