Introduction: The paper investigates the problematic issues of ensuring the rights and freedoms of persons who suffer from mental disorders and committed acts foreseen by the criminal law, to whom coercive medical measures (hereinafter – CMM) are applied in criminal proceedings. The study is conducted in the context of international standards of justice and practices of their interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the ECHR or the Court). Aim To determine the problematic issues of ensuring the rights and freedoms of persons suffering from mental disorders and to whom CMM are applied in criminal proceedings under the legislation of Ukraine and the legislation of the states that adhere to the modern concepts of international standards of human rights ensuring to a person the CMM are applied to Material and methods legal positions of the ECHR, criminal procedural legislation of a number of states, and a survey of scientists and practitioners conducted by the authors are used in this paper (total number of respondents was 168). A set of general scientific and special methods are used to achieve the aim of the study. Conclusions The practice of applying СMM to persons suffering from mental disorders in criminal proceedings in Ukraine and other states does not fully meet international standards and needs improvement. It was suggested to make changes to the legal acts on the use of CMM in criminal proceedings.