This article is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original English-language version here.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed legislative amendments allowing authorities to refer individuals for psychiatric evaluation without their consent. Critics warn that the amendments could enable authorities to “involuntarily hospitalise” and silence critics of the government.
The amendments were made to the law on psychiatric care, which Aliyev approved on 23 July.
Under the law, prosecutors can refer individuals involved in administrative cases for evaluation if delays in providing psychiatric assistance pose a “threat to the life or health of that person or to the life or health of others.”
Human rights defender Yalchin Imanov told OC Media that the law in question already provided a mechanism for involuntary hospitalisation.
He noted that under existing legislation, a person could be placed in a psychiatric facility “only on specific grounds, based on an evaluation by a psychiatrist and a court ruling.”
“The law states that even if a person with a severe mental disorder or illness has not committed a crime, they may, on specific grounds, be placed in a psychiatric facility for examination and treatment by a court decision against their will,” Imanov said.
He emphasised that the law takes into account the immediate danger a person poses to themselves or others, the “inability to independently meet basic life needs due to a mental disorder,” as well as the risk of irreparable harm to health if medical assistance is not provided.
In his view, the main problem lies in the fact that the concept of “danger” and the criteria for defining a mental disorder are not clearly specified in the legislation.
“The legislation does not establish specific criteria or indicators for this. It merely states that a person with a mental disorder must present an immediate danger to themselves or others. This is a vague formulation. Such ambiguity could create fertile ground for abuse by the Azerbaijani authorities,” he stressed.
Imanov believes that “this uncertainty poses a particular risk to political activists and critics of the government.”
The human rights defender noted that experience shows such vague wording creates a risk of abuse and the involuntary hospitalisation of political activists, especially those who criticise the authorities:
“Such cases have already occurred, and there is no guarantee that they will not happen again,” Imanov said.
As an example, he cited the case of Agil Humbatov, a member of the opposition Popular Front Party (AXCP).
Humbatov was forcibly committed to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in April 2020 after criticising government policy during the pandemic.
“It was reported that he was administered medications of unknown origin without his consent or the consent of his relatives,” Imanov said, adding that the government could use this mechanism against its critics.
“Given the Azerbaijani government’s extreme intolerance toward political freedoms, it is not surprising that it resorts to the tactic of placing political critics and opponents in psychiatric institutions.”