Judgment concerning Spain
In the case of B.M. v. Spain the Court held that there had been a violation concerning the lawful detention of persons of unsound mind.
The applicant in this case was detained in a psychiatric hospital under the Civil Procedure Act. His detention was approved by the Madrid Court of First Instance. The applicant attended the hearing online from hospital and was not assisted by a lawyer.
The Court found that the manner in which the authorities had processed the approval of the applicant’s compulsory detention had fallen short of the effective procedural safeguards against arbitrary detention. It also found that the applicant’s rights would have been better protected had the first-instance court actively sought to find out whether he wished to have legal assistance or not. Indeed, that was particularly significant in a case such as the applicant’s, involving a person in a situation of vulnerability who had repeatedly expressed the wish to speak to a lawyer and had complained about his treatment.