ECHR Decision: Christian Teodorescu v. Romania (No. 22883/05)

A chamber of the Third Section of the ECHR found that Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention had been violated by the involuntary psychiatric hospitalization of a secondary school teacher in Braila, Romania.

The applicant, Mr. Teodorescu, was a physics teacher and the president of the local branch of the World Union of Free Romanians.  He claimed that his father had been under surveillance by the former communist regime.  Mr. Teodorescu filed several criminal complaints, claiming that he was under surveillance and that acts of sabotage had been committed against him.  On December 8, 2004, police questioned Mr. Teodorescu about one of the criminal complaints he had filed and about his private life.  Although Mr. Teodorescu was not violent and had no history of psychiatric episodes, the police transported him to a psychiatric facility in Braila, where he was involuntarily hospitalized.  After a psychiatric examination, Mr. Teodorescu was released on December 9, 2004.  The Court found that Mr. Teodorescu was deprived of his liberty and that the deprivation could not be justified under Article 5 § 1(e).  The applicant was awarded EUR 4500 in non-pecuniary damages.