The right to adequate medical care in pre-trial detention: breach of Articles 3 and 5 ECHR and replacement of the preventive measure

Medical care for persons deprived of liberty who have been diagnosed with mental disorders is an extremely sensitive topic in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to its settled practice, Article 3 of the Convention requires States to ensure that the health and well-being of detainees are adequately secured, and the lack of appropriate medical care may amount to inhuman or degrading treatment.

I recently relied on this reasoning in a complex criminal case.

Following my steps in the case, I asked the court to order the prison administration to disclose to the defence the treatment being administered to the defendant held in pre-trial detention, as well as the medical letter on the basis of which it had been prescribed.

The documents provided by Bucharest-Rahova Prison showed that the defendant, diagnosed with an organic personality disorder and moderate intellectual disability, was receiving psychotropic treatment on the basis of a medical letter from December 2025 that was valid for strictly 6 months. By the time the preventive measure was reviewed (October 2026), the defendant had been treated for 4 months on the basis of an expired medical document, without being re-assessed by a specialist.

I pointed out to the court that the lack of periodic re-assessment directly undermines the success of the treatment and runs counter to the safeguards governing lawful deprivation of liberty (Article 5 ECHR). The court accepted the defence's arguments and replaced pre-trial detention with judicial supervision, while also requiring the defendant to undergo a specialist psychiatric consultation.

This decision reconfirms the importance of rigorously verifying conditions of detention and respect for fundamental rights in criminal proceedings.