1. During the examination
of the question raised by the Honourable Parlamentarian, the delegation
of the Czech Republic informed the Committee of Ministers on recent
developments that had taken place in that country in this field,
also in the light of the recommendations of the CPT and case law
of the European Court of Human Rights. Particular attention has
been given to the question of strengthening legal safeguards for
its application and to the issue of consent to surgical castration
being truly free and informed.
2. Regarding the question dealt with in the CPT and Parliamentary
Assembly recommendations, whether patients who are confined to a
psychiatric hospital by a court order are capable of making a free
decision about their treatment, the Committee of Ministers wishes
to draw the attention of the Honourable Parliamentarian to the judgment
of the European Court of Human Rights in Dvořáček v. Czech Republic
of 6 November 2014. In the judgment, the Court acknowledged that
the applicant had faced a difficult choice between taking anti-androgen
drugs with the prospect of earlier release from hospital, and being
treated by psychotherapy and sociotherapy with the prospect of longer
confinement. However, it noted that anti-androgen treatment had
been a therapeutic necessity and that the applicant had not been
pressured into undergoing it. Therefore, the Court found that there
had been no violation of Article 3. Moreover, the Court noted that
surgical castration was strictly regulated by the law and was subject
to a patient’s free and informed consent.
