Print EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Aerts v. Belgium
Application no. 25357/94
30 July 1998
(Excerpts)
AS TO THE FACTS
ii. relevant domestic law and practice
B. Belgian case-law
1. In 1989 the President of the Liège Court of First Instance, as the judge responsible for hearing urgent applications, was for the first time asked to deal with problems arising from the continued detention in the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison of persons who the Mental Health Board had decided should be detained at the Paifve Social Protection Centre. This first application, lodged by a Mr H. and a Mr V., gave rise to an inquiry which included a visit to the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison and interviews with the two complainants and the doctors working at the Centre.
2. The report on the visit to the premises and the interviews with Mr H. and Mr V., drawn up on 10 January 1990, is worded as follows:
“At 2 p.m. the Chairman declared the hearing open.
We went into the psychiatric wing, which is separated off from the rest of the prison, and consists of:
– one central office, with three or four supervisors, but no nurse;
– one dormitory with 26 beds in all, arranged along the two sides of the room, with a bedside table next to each bed. Two of these beds are reserved for prisoner-helpers (i.e. prisoners who are not mentally ill who have volunteered for this duty. They are considered trustworthy but have no special qualifications and are there to help the warders in the event of an incident). There are two warders: one on the ward and one in the cell area;
– one day-room with a television, a table-tennis table, two tables and nine chairs, and a surveillance camera covering the whole room. This room is immediately opposite the dormitory, and was initially supposed to be a dormitory as well. The medical authorities decided it was better to designate one as a sleeping area and the other as a day area (where smoking is allowed);
– near the day-room, the washroom, containing two toilets and a washbasin;
– near the dormitory, a separate bathroom with three showers, a bath and five washbasins;
– between the dormitory and the day-room, a corridor in which meals are served;
– a small room where, every week, drawing and French classes are held for an hour;
– a cell area currently housing twenty people, including eight people in twin cells (4 x 2). A central corridor separates the cells, in which the occupants can watch television and play cards between 6 and 9 p.m. In the morning and afternoon, they are allowed to go out into the exercise yard for one or two hours, depending on the weather. In the twin cells, one foam mattress has been placed directly on the floor;
– a fairly spacious exercise yard reserved for the inmates of the wing (of the ward and cell area alike).
When we visited the common room the occupants stated that:
– there were too many of them;
– they had nothing to do;
– they spent all day in the day-room, which seemed a very long time to them;
– it was very hot;
– they did not have enough air because the windows were never opened;
– they were entitled to only one visit per week for an hour and a half;
– they were not allowed to use the telephone;
– they could change their clothes only very rarely;
– they were sent all the misfits from other places;
– there were not enough supervisors (three during the week, and often fewer at the weekend);
– they had regular contact with the psychiatrist and were on very good terms with him.
When we visited the cell area,
Mr H. told us that:
– he had no work to do, so time passed very slowly for him;
– he spent the whole day resting;
– he saw the doctor when he asked to but the doctor did not examine them of his own accord;
– there was no psychologist;
– from time to time he saw a social worker, but she was overworked as she had other duties in the prison and was not there every day; he therefore saw her only once a week at most;
– there were never any trips outside and no leave;
– relations with the doctor and the supervisors were very good.
Mr V. told us that:
– he had no work, and could not do any sport;
– he was not allowed coffee or a lighter;
– there was no psychologist;
– he saw the social worker when he asked to, if she was there;
– the warders were good, but there were not enough of them.”
3. On 15 January 1990 the President of the Court of First Instance interviewed the psychiatrist assigned to the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison. His statement reads as follows:
“…
I am neither a relative nor an associate of the complainants. I am the only neuropsychiatrist (or doctor specialising in psychology) in Lantin Prison. I work there for ten hours a week: two hours on Mondays, three hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one hour on Fridays and Saturdays. The scope of my work is vast, as I am in theory responsible for looking after all the prisoners in Lantin (about 700 of them), not just the inmates of the psychiatric wing. It is the only prison in Belgium where there is only one neuropsychiatrist for so many prisoners and people subject to detention orders. I spend three-fifths of my time in the psychiatric wing. There are many different types of inmate: people under detention orders; drug addicts who are sent to the wing when they first arrive in Lantin (new ones arrive almost every day); prisoners – on remand or convicted – with a wide range of mental disorders; and finally, people undergoing psychiatric observation, particularly at the request of an investigating judge. The wing has 42 beds, including three for prisoner-helpers, but in fact there are between 35 and 55 inmates. During the holidays there are about 47 to 49. The dormitory has 23 beds and there are 13 cells, currently housing 17 people under detention orders. The figure 40 is much too high, as these people need a lot of psychiatric and neurological care, and occupational therapy. They require treatment for acute problems, which is given. They should also be treated on an ongoing basis with a view to their social rehabilitation. They should have regular consultations with psychologists and social workers. I also think it is essential for them to be given work. And yet this ongoing treatment is non-existent.
As for the people looking after them, there is only one part-time psychiatrist (myself). There are no qualified nurses, only supervisors with no special training. There should be five supervisors per shift, but there are often only four and sometimes even three. The presence of these supervisors is very important for the inmates: they are there to listen to them, talk to them, stay on the ward and play games with those who want to, which is practically impossible given the high number of inmates and the low number of supervisors. They are also supposed to supervise the inmates’ visits and the exercise yard. One of these supervisors, who is not a nurse, has to prepare the medication. There is no psychologist, and no occupational therapist, although one is needed to make work part of therapy. There is no tutor. There is only one social worker, who also works in other parts of Lantin (particularly with the women prisoners). The inmates under detention orders are also given a few music, English and French lessons by volunteer teachers, but much more could be done...
Inmates under detention orders may see me on request. I do not examine them systematically every day. It would be better for me to see them regularly and talk with them, but this is quite impossible given their number and the few hours I have at my disposal.
[After the above statement was read back to him, the witness added:]
Ongoing treatment is becoming increasingly necessary, given that the inmates under detention orders are spending longer and longer in the psychiatric wing, whereas they should be in a Social Protection Centre.
[In reply to a question from Mr Berwart:]
The detainees cannot be given intravenous injections, as these must be given by a doctor. They can be given only intramuscular injections, which should be given by a nurse but are given by supervisors whom I have shown how to do it. This cannot cause any serious problems, however. I only see inmates at their request. Often, what they want is very specific, so that I need to spend only a short time with them. However, when they want to ‘get things off their chest’, I usually spend fifteen minutes or half an hour with them, which I consider too little.
[In reply to a question from Mr Dewez:]
Generally speaking, intravenous injections may be required, particularly for acute depression. These injections cannot possibly be given in the psychiatric wing, owing to the lack of qualified staff.
…”
4. In an injunction of 27 February 1990 issued on the application of Mr H. and Mr V., the judge responsible for urgent applications held that, where it had been decided that a person was to be detained at Paifve, his continued detention in the psychiatric wing was in breach of “both sections 6 and 14 of the Social Protection Act of 1 July 1964 and Article 3 of the Convention”. He took the view that the situation at Lantin was much less favourable than at Paifve, noting that those detained there did not have the social, psychological and psychiatric care the Act required, or regular medical attention from a psychiatrist, or an environment suitable for the treatment of psychiatric patients. He accordingly ordered the State to provide the complainants with a detention regime that complied with the Act. When the Liège Court of First Instance came to consider the merits of the case, it held that the detention had remained lawful in spite of the long delay that had occurred before the transfer from Lantin to Paifve.
5. The President of the Liège Court of First Instance, sitting as the judge responsible for urgent applications, subsequently issued a number of injunctions along the same lines as that of 27 February 1990; in each case the State complied.
6. Hearing for the first time an appeal by the State against such an injunction, the Liège Court of Appeal, in a judgment of 18 January 1993 (M. v. Belgium judgment) upheld a decision that it was unlawful to continue to hold a detainee at Lantin despite the Mental Health Board’s decision, in the following terms:
“Whereas the Mental Health Board noted on 26 February 1991 that the doctor responsible for the wing had written in his report of 22 February 1991 that:
– the inmates’ mental health was deteriorating on account of the conditions they found themselves in on the wing, where they were obliged to mix with a constant stream of drug addicts, who revived a craving for drugs among some of them;
– there was a serious risk of an irreversible deterioration of the patient’s mental condition if he was left any longer on the wing, where it was obvious that he could not receive appropriate treatment;
– the failure to execute the detention order within a reasonable time invalidated the detainee’s detention, which became unlawful, and a reasonable time had expired.
Whereas the judge responsible for urgent applications rightly ordered payment of a penalty in default of compliance with his decision;
Whereas, indeed, the attitude of the appellant, which had shown some reluctance to execute the earlier decisions, justified such a measure…”
C. The report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, of 14 October 1994, and its follow-up
1. The CPT’s report
7. On a visit to Belgium from 14 to 23 November 1993 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“the CPT”) went to several places of detention, including Lantin Prison. In its report, made public on 14 October 1994, it noted in particular with regard to the psychiatric wing at Lantin:
“188. The psychiatrist mentioned of his own accord the problems and the inadequacies of the regime on the psychiatric wing. All the patients with whom the delegates spoke complained about their lack of contact with qualified staff, although they mentioned the positive attitude of the prison staff.
189. Contact with the psychiatrist was extremely basic. Some patients saw him once every ten days; others, less frequently – for example, one patient who had been on the wing since July 1992 had seen him six times; another, on the wing since March 1993, who was obviously depressed and suicidal, had seen him once; another, who had been transferred to the wing in May 1993, twice. It appears that the consultations are extremely brief. In addition, some patients have claimed that they had to stand up during consultations.
190. During our visit several patients under detention orders were waiting to be transferred to a Social Protection Centre. One had been designated for transfer to Tournai since 22 December 1992 and had been on the wing for over a year (since 22 September 1992), while others had been waiting for their transfer for several months. It is obvious that keeping mental patients detained for lengthy periods in the conditions described above carries an undeniable risk of causing their mental state to deteriorate.
The CPT delegation was informed that, at the time, there was one institution specifically designated as a Social Protection Centre, at Paifve, and six other institutions (either hospitals or prisons) with a section reserved for people subject to detention orders. However, it appears that there are more such people than there are places at these institutions.
191. The psychiatric wing admits patients needing psychiatric observation and/or care, but it has neither the facilities nor the staff appropriate to a psychiatric hospital. The standard of care of the patients on the psychiatric wing fell, in every respect, below the minimum acceptable from an ethical and humanitarian point of view.
192. Consequently, the CPT recommends that the Belgian authorities should take, without delay, the necessary measures to:
– significantly increase the medical staff of the wing, which should include at least the equivalent of a full-time psychiatrist;
– assign sufficient numbers of qualified, psychiatrically trained nursing staff to the wing;
– ensure that qualified nursing staff are on stand-by on the wing at night and end the system of night supervision by prisoner-helpers;
– put in place personalised programmes of therapeutic activities involving the full range of treatment approaches (psychological, social and occupational);
– create a personalised therapeutic environment where material conditions are concerned (personal effects, wardrobes, sitting-rooms, washrooms separated from living quarters, etc.);
– more generally, make significant improvements to the physical living conditions.
193. The CPT further recommends the Belgian authorities to explore the possibility of replacing the dormitory with bedrooms for one or two patients.
194. Lastly, the CPT recommends that the Belgian authorities should make it a high priority to find a solution to the above-mentioned problem of the transfer of patients subject to detention orders.”
2. The Belgian Government’s comments
(a) The interim report of 3 May 1995
8. In an interim report made public on 3 May 1995, in reply to the CPT’s report of 14 October 1994, the Belgian Government stated that it was incorrect to say that prisoners on the psychiatric wing at Lantin were left under the sole supervision of prisoner-helpers: two prison officers belonging to the staff of the wing were present at night.
(b) The follow-up report of 21 February 1996
9. The Belgian Government filed a follow-up report which was made public on 21 February 1996. This contained, inter alia, the following comments on the above-mentioned CPT report (see paragraph 28 above):
“[re paragraph 192 of the CPT’s report]
It is important to note that a guidance and treatment unit (UOT) was created at Lantin psychiatric wing in 1993. This unit, which has been operational since 9 December 1993, comprises a psychiatrist, a deputy director, two psychologists, a social worker and an administrative assistant.
The unit has organised a scheme involving co-operation with a social work college which trains prison tutors. As a result, trainee tutors from this college will be able to do the practical part of their course in Lantin Prison, under the supervision of the UOT staff.
These trainee tutors will be responsible for designing a work structure capable of being expanded to accommodate other contributions. They will focus essentially on the psychiatric wing and the women’s wing.
Their aim will be to introduce occupational activities on the psychiatric wing, such as an occupational therapy workshop, an oral expression workshop, sport, etc….
In addition to the creation of the UOT, referred to above, steps are being taken to recruit a psychiatric nurse and a psychiatrist, for thirty hours a week. These trained staff will be assigned exclusively to the psychiatric wing.
[re paragraph 193 of the CPT’s report]
Only dormitory accommodation permits continuous (24-hour) surveillance; checks on cells could be made, at most (where the rules require special surveillance) once every fifteen minutes.
The Prison Service considers that it is for the doctor in charge of the psychiatric wing to decide whether, in view of each inmate’s particular condition, he should be placed in the dormitory or in a cell. Therefore, both possibilities should exist side by side.
Moreover, it should be remembered that the wing does have a small number of cells (individual, twin or three-bed).
[re paragraph 194 of the CPT’s report]
It should be explained at the outset that, under section 14 of the Act of 1 July 1964 ‘for the protection of society against mental defectives and incorrigible offenders’, mental health boards have the power to decide, quite independently, where a person is to be detained.
These administrative authorities, one of which exists for each psychiatric wing, are totally autonomous and have judicial powers. Thus, for instance, they can decide to release someone without conditions or on probation.
A release order may be challenged by the public prosecutor. In this event, the case file is referred to a higher mental health board for a ruling. A decision not to release someone, on the other hand, may be challenged by way of an appeal to the Court of Cassation.
The boards place persons subject to detention orders in special institutions run by the Ministry of Justice (the Paifve Social Protection Centre (EDS) and the mental-health sections of Merksplas and Turnhout Prisons) or in institutions run by the Walloon Region (Mons EDS for women and Tournai EDS for men) or in private psychiatric hospitals which agree to admit them.
It appears that there are particular problems with implementing mental health board placement decisions in the French Community; problems of lack of money and of places.
Historically, the mental health boards in the south of the country have been able to send people subject to detention orders to Mons EDS (in the case of women) and Tournai EDS (in the case of men). These institutions, which were originally run by the national Ministry of Public Health, and are now run by the Walloon Region, bill the Ministry of Justice to defray the cost of looking after the detainees placed with them.
However, over a very short period and without prior notice, these charges, which are fixed by the National Institute of Sickness and Disability Insurance, have increased very sharply, so that the amount allocated in the budget to cover them has turned out to be insufficient. It was necessary to request a further allocation, but this is granted only for the following financial year.
As regards the problems of capacity, we must point out that the number of places in the Paifve and Tournai Social Protection Centres is such that, for several years now, detainees have spent several months on prison psychiatric wings before they can actually be transferred to the EDS designated by the relevant mental health board. They are therefore ‘placed’ on a waiting-list in chronological order.
The fact that it is impossible to admit them immediately to their designated institution has led some of their lawyers to apply, almost systematically, to the president of the relevant court of first instance for an injunction to force Belgium to implement the boards’ decisions.
While the Belgian State has had orders made against it at first instance in several of these cases – orders backed up by penalties – it is noteworthy that this has not been the case on appeal, where, for instance, it has been held (see Civ. Liège, 1 October 1993) that ‘it is not for the ordinary courts to substitute their decision for that of the administrative authority and to order a detainee to be transferred regardless of the problems which that will pose for the administration, such as the choice of another State institution or, exceptionally, a private one’ and that, ‘although the Social Protection Act is not being fully complied with, the fact that the respondent is forced to mix with persons imprisoned under the ordinary criminal law cannot be likened to inhuman or degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’. Similarly, an appeal decision of the same court of 16 February 1993 held that the Prison Service could rely on the defence of force majeure as it had neither the premises nor the staff to comply properly with the Social Protection Act.
Although no such case is currently pending before the Court of Cassation, it should be pointed out that on 8 August 1994 a person subject to a detention order lodged an application against Belgium with the European Commission of Human Rights. This case is still pending at the present time.
It should also be pointed out that, in theory, Paifve EDS could provide sixty more places. This extra capacity can be fully utilised only if considerable renovation work on the disused building is carried out and the staff is increased. The renovation project is planned for the medium term (1999–2000).
If the spare capacity did become available, the total number of places might attain the ‘proper’ level. However, this increased capacity would obviously not save the boards having to send people to Tournai EDS, which has specialised equipment and staff. It is important to retain that possibility since Ministry of Justice and private institutions alone are totally insufficient to meet the demand.
Finally, it must be pointed out that the various federal and regional authorities involved in the problem of placing and treating persons subject to detention orders will be liaising in an attempt to find solutions. These negotiations will be organised by a working party to be set up by the Ministry of Justice, which will include representatives of the different parties involved.”
AS TO THE LAW
V. alleged violation of Article 3 of the Convention
10. Lastly, the applicant complained of the conditions of detention in the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison, for anything more than a short period, for persons requiring psychiatric treatment. These constituted inhuman and degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention, which provides:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The above-mentioned reports of 10 and 15 January 1990, drawn up when the judge responsible for urgent applications visited the premises and took statements from witnesses before issuing the injunction of 27 February 1990 on an application from Mr H. and Mr V. (see paragraphs 23–25 above), and the report of the CPT (see paragraph 28 above) provided sufficient proof of this. In the present case the applicant had literally been left to his own devices and had not received any regular medical or psychiatric attention. The conditions of detention had caused a deterioration of his mental health. In order to assess how seriously the conditions of detention had affected his mental health, it was sufficient to refer to the opinion of the psychiatrist who, as early as 10 March 1993, wrote that Mr Aerts urgently needed to get away from the psychiatric wing (see paragraph 9 above) and the Mental Health Board’s decision of 2 August 1993 finding that failure to comply with its decision of 22 March 1993 was harming the applicant (see paragraph 12 above). That being the case, the treatment imposed should at the least be described as degrading.
11. The Government pointed out that, although the CPT had severely criticised the conditions of detention on the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison, in its report it had not asserted that the physical conditions of detention or the lack of medical attention constituted inhuman or degrading treatment of the inmates. The fact that there was a risk of the deterioration of their mental health, which was mentioned in the CPT’s report, was not sufficient to establish that their treatment reached the minimum level of severity that would bring it within the scope of Article 3. Mr Aerts had not by any means proved that his conditions of detention had aggravated his mental illness, or that he had suffered thereby to such an extent as to make an improvement in his condition unlikely.
12. The Commission noted in the first place that a severely mentally disturbed person could hardly be expected to describe what he had undergone as a result of his detention. The particular situation of mental distress caused by extreme anxiety noted in the psychiatrist’s report of 10 March 1993 could not have been alleviated, on account of the lack of treatment noted in the Mental Health Board’s decision of 2 August 1993. Since the State had not taken within a reasonable time the measures made necessary by that particular situation, it had caused the applicant, by its omission, to suffer treatment which, in the circumstances of the case, had been inhuman, or at the very least degrading.
13. The Court reiterates that ill-treatment must attain a minimum level of severity if it is to fall within the scope of Article 3. The assessment of this minimum is, in the nature of things, relative; it depends on all the circumstances of the case (see the Vilvarajah and Others v. the United Kingdom judgment of 30 October 1991, Series A no. 215, p. 36, § 107).
14. It was not contested that the general conditions in the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison were unsatisfactory and not conducive to the effective treatment of the inmates. The CPT considered that the standard of care given to the patients placed in the psychiatric wing at Lantin fell below the minimum acceptable from an ethical and humanitarian point of view and that prolonging their detention at Lantin for lengthy periods carried an undeniable risk of a deterioration of their mental health (see paragraph 28 above).
15. In the present case there is no proof of a deterioration of Mr Aerts’s mental health. The living conditions on the psychiatric wing at Lantin do not seem to have had such serious effects on his mental health as would bring them within the scope of Article 3. Admittedly, it is unreasonable to expect a severely mentally disturbed person to give a detailed or coherent description of what he has suffered during his detention. However, even if it is accepted that the applicant’s state of anxiety, described by the psychiatrist in a report of 10 March 1993 (see paragraph 9 above), was caused by the conditions of detention in Lantin, and even allowing for the difficulty Mr Aerts may have had in describing how these had affected him, it has not been conclusively established that the applicant suffered treatment that could be classified as inhuman or degrading.
16. In conclusion, the Court considers that there has been no breach of Article 3.
for these reasons, the court
5. Holds by seven votes to two that there has been no breach of Article 3 of the Convention;
Partly dissenting opinion of Judge Pekkanen Joined by Judge jambrek
I have voted in this case for a violation of Article 3 of the Convention for the following reasons.
1. The main question in this case is whether the ill-treatment of the applicant attained the minimum level of severity required for treatment to be described as “inhuman” or “degrading”. According to the Court’s case-law, treatment is degrading if it grossly humiliates the person concerned before others or drives him to act against his will or conscience, and is inhuman if it deliberately causes severe suffering, mental or physical.
It should be noted that the Commission in its case-law has concluded that inhuman treatment may be found to exist when a person’s detention as such causes his ill-health (see Commission’s report, paragraph 79).
2. The applicant was arrested on 14 November 1992 and ordered on 15 January 1993 by the Liège Court of First Instance to be confined on the grounds of his mental health. He was provisionally detained in the psychiatric wing of Lantin Prison.
On 22 March 1993, the Mental Health Board for Lantin Prison psychiatric wing ordered the applicant to be transferred to Paifve Social Protection Centre.
The applicant was not transferred to Paifve until 27 October 1993.
3. As regards the state of the applicant’s mental health, a psychiatrist at Lantin Prison’s psychiatric wing stated in his report of 10 March 1993 to the Mental Health Board for the wing, inter alia: “He is extremely anxious in the common room of the wing, constantly asks for his medication to be changed and is perpetually plunged in ruminations about how the relationship with his girlfriend on the outside is working out” (see the judgment, paragraph 9).
This report clearly shows that the applicant at the time urgently needed appropriate psychiatric treatment and that keeping him in the Lantin Prison psychiatric wing caused him severe suffering.
4. The doctor in charge of the Lantin Prison psychiatric wing wrote in his report of 22 February 1991 to the Mental Health Board on the conditions in the Lantin Prison psychiatric wing in another case:
“ – the inmates’ mental health is deteriorating on account of the conditions they find themselves in on this wing, where they are obliged to mix with a constant stream of drug addicts, who revive a craving for drugs among some of them;
– there is a serious risk of an irreversible deterioration of the patient’s mental condition if he is left any longer on the wing, where it is obvious that he cannot receive appropriate treatment...” (see the judgment, paragraph 27).
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“the CPT”) stated in its report of 14 October 1994 on the Lantin Prison psychiatric wing (see the judgment, paragraph 28), inter alia, the following:
“191. The psychiatric wing admits patients needing psychiatric observation and/or care, but it has neither the facilities nor the staff appropriate to a psychiatric hospital. The standard of care of the patients on the psychiatric wing fell, in every respect, below the minimum acceptable from an ethical and humanitarian point of view.”
5. These facts show in my opinion that the applicant urgently needed appropriate psychiatric treatment and that the Lantin Prison psychiatric wing clearly was not able to provide proper treatment. In addition, the applicant was subjected in Lantin to a serious risk of an irreversible deterioration of his mental health. Furthermore, the standard of care of the patients was, in every respect, below the minimum acceptable level, which caused him suffering. The applicant was kept in Lantin altogether for more than nine months, of which more than six months were spent after the State became aware of his situation as a result of his injunction application (see the judgment, paragraphs 17–20). The suffering caused to the mentally ill applicant by keeping him in the above-described conditions for such a long time exceeds in my opinion the minimum level of severity required for inhuman treatment under Article 3 of the Convention.
6. According to the majority’s opinion it has not been demonstrated in any satisfactory manner that the applicant was treated in a way which could be described as “inhuman” or “degrading”. However, there is no evidence either that the applicant was treated differently from the other patients in Lantin. Therefore, it can in my opinion safely be assumed that the treatment he received was comparable to the general conditions described above in paragraph 5. If the applicant, suffering from extreme anxiety, received similar treatment to all the other patients in the common room of the psychiatric wing, as I am convinced he did, this treatment caused him suffering which should be considered to be “inhuman” within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.
7. In my opinion Article 3 of the Convention has been violated in the present case.