Prosecutor General's Office: “You were forcibly taken to the psychiatric hospital, but the subsequent treatment was carried out on your agreement”

Valiantsin Kavalchuk, who lives in the village of Vialiakaja Hać, has been trying to appeal the actions of the local medics and police, who had forcedly and illegally sent him to the Mahilioŭ psychiatric hospital in October 2013.

After a week there, he has been diagnosed with a “delusional disorder”, which doesn't require medical treatment, only supervision of the local psychiatrist. Though he has never been on the psychiatric register and has never appealed for psychiatric aid, he has been signed out with such documents.

When Valiantsin Kavalchuk asked the commission of the psychiatric hospital about the reasons for such a diagnosis, he was answered that he had too many complaints and was not going to stop.

Brest Regional Prosecutor's Office answered Mr. Kavalchuk that the Ivacevičy policemen who had forcedly taken him to the hospital, would not be punished as the law doesn't prescribe how the police should behave in such situations.

Neither did he manage to get a punishment for the Ivacevičy prosecutor, who had authorized his forced sending to the psychiatric hospital. His appeal to the Brest Regional Health Care Department yielded no results either.

After several years of the neglect of his right to justice, Mr. Kavalchuk drew up an appeal to the Office of the Prosecutor General with the assistance of the lawyers of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”. The appeal was considered on its merits.

The answer, given at the end of May 2015 by the deputy head of the department for supervision over of human rights and freedoms Pavel Yeliseyeu, reads:

"September 9, 2013, the medical advisory board of the Ivacevičy Central District Hospital concluded that you needed a course of forced medical treatment in a hospital, as you allegedly had a psychic disorder, as a result of which you could inflict considerable harm to you health due to the deterioration of the state of psychic health.

Therefore, on the basis of Article 29 of the Law "On Mental Health Care", on September 11, 2013
Ivacevičy district prosecutor authorized the conduct of a compulsory psychiatric examination in a hospital.”

Then Mr. Yeliseyeu writes that at the Mahilioŭ hospital, where Mr. Kavalchuk had been taken by force, he allegedly agreed to be hospitalized and get medical treatment on his own will.

Of course, Valiantsin Kavalchuk is dissatisfied with such an answer and intends to appeal to the Deputy Prosecutor General, hoping that the justice will be restored and the actions of Ivacevičy psychiatrists and police will be found unlawful.