Denmark has been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights for violating international human rights law after a psychiatric patient was strapped to a bed with belts for over 11 days in 2016. The court ruled the prolonged restraint constituted torture and degrading treatment, ordering Denmark to pay the man 150,000 kroner in compensation.
The young man, who suffers from schizophrenia, was admitted involuntarily to a psychiatric ward on June 3, 2016. After attacking a nurse with a fork later that day, staff restrained him using belt fixation, strapping him to a bed where he remained for 11 days, 10 hours, and 48 minutes. He was allowed 30 minutes daily without restraints to shower or smoke, always under supervision.
Denmark’s own psychiatric patient complaints board later ruled the fixation unlawful from June 5 onward. But it took a ruling from Strasbourg to establish what should have been obvious: keeping someone tied to a bed for nearly two weeks crosses the line into torture.
This is the longest belt fixation case the European Court of Human Rights has ever ruled on. The previous record was eight days in an Italian case decided in 2024. Yet even longer restraints have appeared in Danish courts. The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that a nine month belt fixation violated the prohibition against torture and inhuman treatment. Nine months.
A System That Knows It Has a Problem
Belt fixation is not some rare emergency measure in Denmark. In 2024, psychiatric wards used it 3,855 times on adult patients, with each episode lasting an average of 17 hours, according to the national Task Force for Prevention of Coercion in Psychiatry. That is more than ten restraints every single day across the country.
The man at the center of this case has another pending complaint against Denmark at the European court. That one concerns his confinement to a locked room at Sikringen, the high security psychiatric facility, for three and a half years. He was sent there in early 2019 after receiving a dangerousness decree, a designation reserved for individuals deemed too dangerous for regular prison.
Denmark keeps settling or losing these cases. The court ruled against Denmark in 2020 in the Aggerholm case, involving 23 hours of belt fixation where staff waited too long to reassess whether restraint was still necessary. Denmark paid 10,000 euros. Since then, the Danish government has reached settlements in several similar cases rather than fight them in court.
Reforms Launched as Convictions Pile Up
The timing is awkward. Just as this conviction lands, Denmark is three months into a major restructuring of its psychiatric system. On January 1, 2026, the regions began integrating psychiatric services with general medical care at hospitals, ending decades of separate management for mental health. The idea is to reduce stigma and improve coordination between psychiatric and somatic treatment.
The integration is part of a ten year psychiatric plan running from 2020 to 2030, backed by 4.6 billion kroner in permanent new funding by the end of the decade. That represents a 35 percent increase compared to 2019 levels. For 2026 alone, the plan allocates 340.6 million kroner, with explicit goals to reduce involuntary admissions and readmissions.
The Ministry of Health and Interior responded to the court ruling by saying it will review the judgment to determine whether further action is needed. The ministry noted that practices have changed since 2016 and that the Health Authority monitors the use of coercion in psychiatry.
But monitoring has not prevented convictions. The gap between policy promises and actual practice remains wide enough for the European Court of Human Rights to drive a ruling through.
Election Year Pressure
This all plays out during a parliamentary election year. The Psychiatric Foundation has been pressing parties to detail their mental health commitments ahead of the 2026 vote, and psychiatry has emerged as a campaign issue. Voters and advocacy groups are asking harder questions about accountability and oversight in psychiatric care.
I have lived in Denmark long enough to recognize the pattern. The system acknowledges a problem, announces reforms, allocates funding, then gets convicted in Strasbourg for practices that violate basic human rights. The ten year plan may deliver real improvements, but three months into implementation, the gap between ambition and reality is measured in days spent strapped to a bed.
The man in this case now has 150,000 kroner and a landmark ruling in his favor. But he also spent over 11 days tied down and three and a half years locked in a room. No amount of structural reform erases that. And until the convictions stop, the reforms remain promises written in budgets rather than change experienced by patients.
Sources and References
The Danish Dream: Danish Healthcare Explained for Tourists and Expats
The Danish Dream: Is Danish Healthcare Really Worth the Hype?
The Danish Dream: Ten Year Plan Aims to Transform Danish Mental Health Care
The Danish Dream: Mental Health in Denmark for Foreigners
DR: Danmark dømt i sag om bæltefiksering i psykiatrien
Institut for Menneskerettigheder
Menneskeret.dk
Danske Regioner
