[How long before obama thinks of this old brainwashing tool?]
The Other Russia
Russian Activist Forced into Psychiatric Confinement
March 15th, 2009
A Russian opposition activist, who says he was confined against his will
to a mental hospital, will remain in the facility after a St. Petersburg
court ruled in favor of his compulsory treatment Saturday. According to
the ZAKS.ru online newspaper (Rus), Vadim Charushev is well known as the
creator of several political web-resources and social networking groups.
According to Charushev’s attorney, Viktor Grozovsky, the activist was
detained by police, then forcibly hospitalized on the night of March
6th. It remains unclear why Charushev was first arrested.
Grozovsky said he had spoken with Charushev for two hours, and commented
that he appeared to be “a completely normal, mentally sane person.”
Charushev told the attorney that he had categorically refused to sign
for treatment as a voluntary patient, at which point he was threatened.
The activist was told: “You won’t get out of here, you’ll be here as
long as it takes, and you’ll have other problems as well.”
At that point, Charushev says he was forced to sign off on his
hospitalization. Despite the fact that Charushev has not been diagnosed
with any illness, he may now be held at the clinic for up to 6 months.
Charushev was creator and moderator of a wide range of political
opposition groups on VKontakte, a Russian social networking website
similar to the US-based Facebook. Among his groups were “I didn’t vote
for United Russia and Putin’s marionette!,” and “Galina Starovoytova,
your ideas live on.” Starovoytova, a deputy in Russia’s State Duma,
rallied for ethnic minorities and human rights, and was assassinated in
Moscow in 1998.
Olga Starovoytova, Galina’s sister, said she had met Charushev online,
and was grateful for his efforts to remember her sister’s work and
ideas. “He needs to be taken out of the mental hospital at any cost, as
quickly as possible,” she told ZAKS.ru.
Natalya Nelayeva, one of Charushev’s long-time friends, testified as a
witness on his behalf. “Vadim’s health worries me very much,” she told
the court. “He is completely green, hasn’t eaten anything for five days
now and is terribly emaciated.”
Nelayeva believes Charushev’s confinement is punishment for his
political beliefs.
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
Unfortunately that tool is nothing new. Noncompliant women were quite often locked up in psychiatric facilities here in American in the 20s and into the early 30s.