6.  The applicant was born in 1952.
7.  On 30 May 2012 the applicant was arrested and detained in connection with a suspicion of making two threats by telephone against certain M.S. and Š.O.
8.  In the course of the investigation, the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office (Općinsko državni odvjetništvo u Zagrebu) commissioned a psychiatric expert report on the applicant’s mental health at the time of the offence, including, if appropriate, the existence of a need for his psychiatric internment.
9.  On 28 June 2012 the psychiatric expert, E.S., submitted her report, which stated that the applicant suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. She found that he was incapable of understanding and controlling his actions and that he posed a danger to others, which warranted his psychiatric internment. The expert noted that she had not inspected any medical documents concerning the applicant’s previous psychiatric treatment, but she had interviewed him, examined the criminal case file and a medical report from the prison administration.
10.  On 10 July 2012 the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office indicted the applicant in the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court (Općinski kazneni sud u Zagrebu) on charges of making serious threats. It asked that the measure of involuntary psychiatric internment be ordered in respect of the applicant, as provided under the Protection of Individuals with Mental Disorders Act.
11.  On 27 July 2012 a three-judge panel of the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court found that the indictment was flawed as it had been based on an incomplete expert report, which had not taken into account all the medical documentation concerning the applicant’s previous psychiatric treatment. The indictment was thus returned to the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office with an instruction to commission an additional expert report.
12.  On 24 August 2012 E.S. produced a supplement to her report, which she prepared with a psychologist. She explained that she had obtained the applicant’s medical record from his general practitioner, V.P., but had not obtained anything from his psychiatrist, V.G. (a university professor), who had in the meantime retired and could not be reached. The expert also stated that, in her view, the applicant’s diagnosis had already been clear after the first examination and that she did not need further documents to provide a diagnosis. She thus reiterated her previous opinion on the basis of the new records she had obtained.
13.  On 28 August 2012 the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office submitted a new indictment against the applicant in the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court. This indictment was confirmed and accepted on 3 October 2012 and the case was sent to trial.
14.  Meanwhile, on 30 August 2012, the applicant was released from pre‑trial detention because the maximum period had expired (see paragraph 31 below).
15.  At a hearing before the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court on 4 December 2012, the applicant asked that his psychiatrist V.G., his general practitioner V.P. and several other witnesses, including his neighbours, be heard. He said they could all give evidence as to his mental state. He also argued that he had had previous conflicts with the victims and asked that the police be requested to submit relevant information about those incidents.
16.  At the same hearing, several prosecution witnesses and the expert witness E.S. were questioned. E.S. reiterated the findings and opinion she had previously given. She also argued that the evidence concerning the applicant’s mental state at the moment of the commission of the offence could not be given by his general practitioner or his psychiatrist.
17.  In the meantime, on 11 September and 13 December 2012 the applicant submitted medical reports by his psychiatrist V.G. according to which he suffered from chronic stress and maladaptation to the environment. This was a behavioural disorder which needed further psychological treatment. V.G. also stressed that the applicant’s psychiatric internment could create adverse effects for his treatment. He pointed out that the applicant participated in an outpatient psychiatric treatment for years and that there were positive developments in his behaviour, in particular related to the abstinence from alcohol.
18.  At a hearing on 18 December 2012, the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court heard further witnesses for the prosecution. It dismissed all the applicant’s requests for the taking of evidence on the grounds that they were irrelevant. In particular, the trial court held that the general practitioner V.P. did not have sufficient expertise to give evidence on the applicant’s mental capacity and that her documents had been taken into account by E.S. The trial court considered that the same arguments applied to V.G.
19.  At a hearing on 23 January 2013 the parties gave their closing arguments. The applicant argued that E.S.’s expert opinion was flawed and incomplete as it had not taken into account the existing medical documentation related to his treatment but only the medical record held by his general practitioner. At the same time, her opinion was contrary to the findings of his psychiatrist V.G.
20.  On the same day the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court found that the applicant had committed the offence of making serious threats while lacking mental capacity. Relying on E.S.’s report, it decided that he should be placed in a psychiatric hospital for a period of six months. The Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court found the medical reports produced by V.G. (see paragraph 17 above) unreliable on the grounds that they contradicted the findings of the expert witness E.S. and that they had been produced by a doctor whom the applicant had paid privately.
21.  The applicant appealed against the judgment to Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu), alleging numerous substantive and procedural flaws. He pointed out that his psychiatrist V.G., who had treated him for six years, had not been consulted in the course of the proceedings. He also referred to a report by V.G., which found that there were no grounds for his being placed in a psychiatric institution and that any such decision could have severe consequences for his health.
22.  On 9 July 2013 the Zagreb County Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal on the grounds that all the relevant facts had been correctly established. It stressed that the expert witness E.S. had taken into account the applicant’s medical record held by his general practitioner V.P., which also included the findings of his psychiatrist V.G. The Zagreb County Court therefore considered that it had not been necessary to question V.P. and V.G., particularly since they were not certified court experts as was the case with E.S. The Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court judgment thereby became final.
23.  On 23 October 2013 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske), complaining that the proceedings had been unfair.
24.  On 27 November 2013 the Constitutional Court declared the applicant’s constitutional complaint inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded. It considered that the applicant was simply repeating his arguments from the proceedings before the lower courts challenging their decisions although those decisions did not disclose any arbitrariness or unfairness.
25.  After the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court’s judgment became final (see paragraph 22 above) it was sent for implementation to a single judge of the Zagreb County Court, as provided for under the Protection of Individuals with Mental Disorders Act (see paragraph 32 below).
26.  In the meantime, the applicant went to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was examined by two experts in forensic psychiatry, A.K. and A.B.M., and a psychologist, S.P. In a report of 10 August 2013 the experts stated that the applicant had various mental disorders of a histrionic type, but did not have paranoid schizophrenia. They also stated that he was fully conscious of his acts and could adopt a critical attitude towards his own conduct.
27.  On 21 October 2013 a judge of the Zagreb County Court ordered that the applicant be sent to the psychiatric hospital.
28.  The applicant appealed against that decision to a three-judge panel of the Zagreb County Court, referring, inter alia, to the expert report drafted on 10 August 2013 (see paragraph 26 above).
29.  On 7 November 2013 a three-judge panel of the Zagreb County Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal on the grounds that there had been nothing in his arguments to raise any doubts about the necessity for his committal to the hospital as established by the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court.
30.  According to the available information, the applicant is still at large as he could not be located by the relevant authorities in order to execute the psychiatric internment order.