expert examination of the applicant's mental condition, had declared him fully capable.
7. The applicant, in his observations of 22 May 2009, confirmed that information. He also informed the Court that on 12 May 2009 the decision of 27 April 2009 of the Vasileostrovskiy District Court of St Petersburg had became final and acquired legal force.
8. Furthermore, the applicant informed the Court that on 27 February 2009 the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation had ruled on the merits of his constitutional complaint and had found unconstitutional the provisions of Article 284 of the Code of Civil Procedure which had provided for the possibility of hearing the incapacity case in the applicant's absence. The Constitutional Court also found unconstitutional parts of Articles 52, 135 and 379 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in so far as they had prevented the applicant from bringing an appeal against the incapacitation decision of the first-instance court. It further found unconstitutional the provisions of Article 28 of the Psychiatric Care Act which had made it possible to detain the applicant in a psychiatric hospital without a court review for an indefinite period of time. The applicant submitted a copy of the Constitutional Court decision.
THE LAW
9. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
"If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party."
I. Damage
A. The applicant's claims
10. In his updated claims for just satisfaction the applicant claimed 25,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage. He insisted that he had suffered particularly grave interference with his private life and personal liberty. As a result of his full legal incapacitation almost every important civil right had been taken away from him, leaving him feeling anxious, vulnerable and helpless. Moreover, all effective domestic legal avenues had been closed to him, thus reducing him to a non-person in the eyes of the law. All important decisions relating to the applicant's life had been at the discretion of his guardian, with whom he had had an unstable and often hostile relationship and who had often acted demonstrably against the applicant's wishes and interests. One of the particularly serious consequences of the applicant's incapacitation had been his unlawful prolonged detention in a psychiatric hospital (from 4 November 2005 to 16 May 2006) where he had been denied access to any of the safeguards which normally attended involuntary hospitalisation. The applicant also pointed out that the hospital authorities had prevented him from meeting his legal representative and had otherwise obstructed his efforts to pursue his ECHR complaint. That attitude on the part of the authorities had increased his feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and vulnerability. The applicant further referred to the awards made by the Court in comparable cases (see, for example, Gajcsi v. Hungary, No. 34503/03, §§ 28 - 30, 3 October 2006, and H.F. v. Slovakia, No. 54797/00, §§ 50 - 52, 8 November 2005). The applicant invited the Court, in making an award, to take into account the cumulative effect of the violations found in the principal judgment.
11. In his additional submissions the applicant alleged that the reversal of the original incapacity decision in 2009 had not provided him with an adequate remedy, as he had already suffered violations of his rights owing to his status as an incapable individual and there had been no effective remedies available to him under Russian law by which to obtain compensation for his suffering.
B. The Government's submis
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