CONCURRING OPINIONS OF JUDGES MOUROU ‑ VIKSTRÖM AND JELIÄŒ

(Translation)

We fully agree with the Chamber’s finding of a double violation and with the reasoning adopted in reaching that conclusion.

The Chamber held that in the absence of any trace of physical injuries on the applicant after his release, the psychiatric disorders with which he was diagnosed had to be regarded as the result of the physical ill-treatment and emotional humiliation and trauma suffered during the months he had spent in detention.

Nevertheless, we consider it important to clarify one specific point concerning schizophrenia, a condition whose underlying causes are not yet fully known to researchers.

We note that the applicant was released on 17 March 2011.

His mental health problems were confirmed at two different stages:

‑ On 29 June 2011 the applicant underwent a psychiatric evaluation, which resulted in a diagnosis of chronic delusional disorder and protracted reactive paranoia. His mental health deteriorated over the years.

‑ In 2015 he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

In our view, depending on how the Chamber judgment is read, in particular paragraph 44, there may still be some doubt as to the link established between the detection of schizophrenia and the ill-treatment suffered in detention.

Extreme caution is required when examining the causal links between ill ‑ treatment and a condition as complex as schizophrenia. The trigger factors are the subject of in-depth studies dealing with such aspects as genetics and use of psychotropic substances. It cannot be established from the medical data currently available that this mental illness may result from emotional trauma, however violent and destabilising such trauma may have been. However, where the condition is pre-existing, it may enter acute phases following exposure of the subject to intense psychological trauma.

This clarification is, of course, not intended to take the place of a medical opinion on the applicant’s state of health, but rather to maintain a very cautious approach and remove any ambiguity in the Chamber’s position regarding the factors that may trigger the symptoms of schizophrenia, a condition that remains the subject of heated debate among experts.