Yesterday an Other Russia activist, the 20-year-old Artem Basyrov, was committed to a psychiatric hospital against his will - another startling example of how the Soviet-era practice of punitive psychiatry is making a comeback. Other examples of this odious practice include Andrei Novikov and Larisa Arap.
From the report: "A local psychiatric board agreed with police, who alleged that Basyrov had assaulted a girl, and concluded he was suffering from some mental illness. Basyrov was finally transferred from an isolation ward and allowed to have visitors on Thursday, said Mikhail Klyuzhev, a National Bolshevik member from the city of Yoshkar-Ola."
An op/ed on the subject by the Morning Journal frames the problem in exceptionally simple and clear language: "Freedom is every person's right, and no government should be able to deny that right because people speak freely in dissent. Putin's heavy-handed regime is violating the human rights of those who are being killed or being imprisoned in psychiatric hospitals. It is a terrible, tragic and dangerous step backward in history for Russians."
Let's keep our eyes on The Other Russia's vastly improved blog for more information.
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Interestingly, Other Russia is reporting that SPS is on the verge of bankruptcy:
http://www.theotherrussia.org/2007/12/16/union-of-right-forces-party-nearing-bankruptcy/
It's a bit disturbing that Other Russia's report on Artem doesn't even confirm the detention and relies on third-party news reports:
http://www.theotherrussia.org/2007/12/09/liquidation-of-the-%e2%80%9cdiscontented%e2%80%9d/
It seems for all the world that they, too, are lacking finances and unable to coordinate activity on a broad scale. Their reporting on the Chervochkin killing was similarly perfunctory and late:
http://www.theotherrussia.org/2007/12/12/severely-beaten-activist-dies/
Disturbing, too, is that Garry Kasparov is pulling out of the presidential race, for seemingly frivolous reasons, after a concerted period of harassment of him and his family.
They have a donations page for those who are interested in supporting them:
http://www.theotherrussia.org/support-the-other-russia/
Posted by La Russophobe![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.robertamsterdam.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 16, 2007 11:59 AM
Posted on December 16, 2007 11:59