CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 17 juin 2003

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s61E420C2 { font-family:Arial; font-variant:small-caps } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s18D96D33 { width:15.69pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sBF401EEE { width:32.35pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s3964C3A3 { width:1.36pt; display:inline-block } .s901C2590 { width:56.7pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     319   17.6.2003   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING ON THE MERITS IN THE CASE OF RAKEVICH v. RUSSIA   Tuesday 17 June 2003 at 9 a.m.   The applicant   The case concerns an application (no. 58973/00) brought by a Russian national, Tamara Nikolayevna Rakevich, who was born in 1961 and lives in Yekaterinburg (Russia).   Summary of the facts   On 26 September 1999 Ms Rakevich was taken to a mental hospital by ambulance. She asserts that the ambulance was called by her friend, a Jehovah’s Witness, after an all-night discussion about religion during which the friend had taken offence at her religious convictions. Two days later the hospital diagnosed Ms Rakevich with paranoid schizophrenia and applied for a court order authorising her detention. The matter came before the court for the first time 40 days later, instead of 5 days as required by law. Ms Rakevich had been discharged from hospital the previous day. On 5 November 1999 the court held that her detention had been justified on the ground that she was deranged, as had been evidenced by, among other things, the hospital staff’s record that she had stayed awake all night long studying the Bible and crying. Her appeals against that decision failed.   Complaints   Ms Rakevich complains, under Articles 5 (right to liberty and security) and 6 (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) of the European Convention on Human Rights, about her compulsory placement in the mental hospital. She points out that she had not been diagnosed as mentally ill at the time of her admission to hospital and that there was no lawful ground on which to detain her. She also claims that the judicial review of her detention lasted too long and was a mere formality.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 8 June 2000 and declared admissible on 5 March 2002.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (French), President , András Baka (Hungarian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian), Wilhelmina Thomassen (Netherlands), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Anatoli Kovler (Russian), judges , Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot) , Corneliu Bîrsan (Romanian) , Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese) , substitute judges , and also Sally Dollé , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Pavel Laptev , Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights , Yuri Berestnev , Counsel , Valentin Pirozhkov , Sergei Shishkov and Daria Mikhalina , Advisers ;   Applicant:   Anna Demeneva , Counsel , Borislav Petranov and Vesselina Vandova , Advisers .   ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Joanna Reynell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.