The applicant, Pavel Shtukaturov, is a Russian national who was born in 1982 and lives in St Petersburg. He has a history of mental illness and was declared officially disabled in 2003. The case concerned Mr Shtukaturov’s complaint that he had been deprived of his legal capacity without his knowledge and confined to a psychiatric hospital by his mother. In a judgment delivered on 27 March 2008, the Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) concerning the proceedings which had deprived the applicant of his legal capacity; a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) on account of the complete deprivation of his legal capacity; violations of Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 (right to liberty and security) concerning his confinement in and inability to obtain release from a psychiatric hospital; and, a failure by the Russian Government to comply with its obligations under Article 34 (right of individual petition) as it had hindered the applicant’s access to the European Court. The Court held that it would decide the question of the application of Article 41 (just satisfaction) at a later stage.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)