Published on 17 March 2025
 
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 15932/23
Rui Miguel MIRANDA MAGRO
against Portugal
lodged on 7 April 2023
communicated on 27 February 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the applicant’s placement in Évora and Coimbra Hospitals pursuant to a preventive detention order (medida de segurança de internamento) imposed on him in criminal proceedings in which he was found not to be criminally responsible owing to his mental disorder (see Miranda Magro v. Portugal, no. 30138/21, §§ 6, 7, 14 and 15, 9 January 2024).
On 24 February 2021 the applicant was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Évora Hospital (19 km distance from his home). On 18 October 2021 he was transferred to the Sobral Cid Psychiatric Clinic of the Coimbra Hospital (229 km from his home) where he remained until his release on 14 April 2024.
Relying on Article 3 of the Convention, the applicant complains of the inadequate medical treatment and poor conditions in the psychiatric wards of the above hospitals (overcrowding; restricted access to telephone communication and lack of access to internet; inadequate quantity of food and overmedication).
Under Article 3, he also complains about the fact that he was transferred from Évora Hospital to the Coimbra Hospital, further away from his family. He claims that he submitted several requests to be transferred back to Évora Hospital and that he did not receive any reply.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1.  Did the material conditions of the applicant’s preventive detention in the psychiatric wards amount to inhuman or degrading treatment and did the applicant receive adequate therapeutic treatment in the Évora and Coimbra hospitals in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention? (see Muršić v. Croatia [GC], no. 7334/13, §§ 96-101, 20 October 2016, and Rooman v. Belgium [GC], no. 18052/11, §§ 146-47, 31 January 2019).
 
2.  Was there a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his family life, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention, as a result of his transfer from Évora Hospital to Coimbra Hospital (see Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev v. Russia, nos. 11082/06 and 13772/05, § 837, 25 July 2013; Vintman v. Ukraine, no. 28403/05, §§ 76-78 and 103, 23 October 2014; and İlerde and Others v. Türkiye, nos. 35614/19 and 10 others, §§ 212-14, 5 December 2023)? Was the applicant afforded sufficient safeguards in respect of the decision to transfer him to Coimbra Hospital (see Polyakova and Others v. Russia, nos. 35090/09 and 3 others, §§ 86 and 108, 7 March 2017)?