Russian Activist Being Held in Psychiatric Hospital

In a disturbing development by the Russian government, opposition activist Artem Basyrov was detained by two plainclothes officers and sentenced to be held in a psychiatric hospital in the central region of Mari El. The November 23 arrest is the latest in a series of psychiatric committals directed against political figures and journalists critical of the current regime. The psychiatric board that reviewed the 20-year old Basyrov's case alleged that he had "harassed" a woman and was suffering from "some sort of mental illness". Basyrov's supporters dismiss the allegations as "idiocy" and maintain that his arrest was designed to punish him for running as an Other Russia candidate in the local legislature. Basyrov was one of the organizers for a "Dissenter's meeting" that was scheduled to take place on November 24th. The other organizer, Mikhail Klyuzhev, was arrested on November 22 for "hooliganism" and held for three days. While his Basyrov's is scheduled for review in a few weeks, international organizations such as the Global Initiative on Psychiatry have been monitoring the increasing use of psychiatric hospitals for jailing dissidents and accuse the Russian government of engaging in Soviet-era tactics to crush opposition.

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