Slovak Constitutional Court Judgment on Rights of Person Deprived of Legal Capacity

MDAC announced on 8 January 2013 that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovakia had issued a decision on 28 November 2012 in a case regarding deprivation of legal capacity in which it found violations of numerous rights under the Slovak Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The full text of the judgment is now available in Slovak and English. The Constitutional Court found that the proceeding by which the applicant, E.T., was deprived of legal capacity had violated his rights because the court that made the decision to deprive E.T. of his legal capacity had done so only on the basis of expert evidence that E.T. suffered from a mental disability that was permanent without considering other factors such as his family and social situation. The Court noted that the understanding of disability has evolved in law and that  while in the past, decisions about deprivation of legal capacity were made with a view to protecting third parties and for the public interest, courts today must consider the person and his rights  the central issue.