The applicant, the 12-year-old boy Jon Nielsen, had been living in hiding with his father after several years of conflict between his parents regarding custody. After the father’s arrest in 1983, the boy was placed in a child psychiatric ward at Rigshospitalet at the request of his mother, who had custody.

The boy opposed the placement and claimed, through his father, that the admission constituted a deprivation of liberty. He attempted to have the courts review the legality of the stay, but the Danish courts rejected the case on the grounds that the admission had been decided by the mother as part of her parental authority and therefore did not constitute an administrative deprivation of liberty.

He subsequently complained to the European Court of Human Rights, alleging a violation of Article 5(1) and 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) concerning the right to liberty and the right to have the lawfulness of detention reviewed by a court.

The Court found that Article 5 was not applicable. The Court placed particular emphasis on the fact that the admission had been decided by the mother, who held parental authority. There was therefore no deprivation of liberty within the meaning of the Convention, but rather a lawful exercise of parental authority in the interests of the child.