Abstract
The paper analyses some of the most controversial issues relating to restrictions of personal freedom of psychiatric patients in the Czech Republic. First, the abolishment of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in the United Nations Convention against j Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights is analysed.
Then, the paper presents the problems of involuntary hospitalization and the use of means of restraint in the context of psychiatric care from the perspective of the United Nations and the Council of Europe reports regarding the situation of human rights in the Czech Republic. The paper also focuses on the European Court of Human Rights case-law or the activities of several international NGOs.
While the norms regulating involuntary hospitalization are relatively detailed and correspond the international standards, the degree of institutionalization of psychiatric patients is too high. The most controversial issues related to the use of means of restraint are the use of net-beds and the frequent lack of adequate supervision over restrained patients by members of the health care staff.