Punitive Psychiatry Returns to Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

Pavel Yazerski (Ezersky), an activist of the United Civil Party, was taken from a police department to a mental hospital, where he stayed for 10 days. He was given unknown injections and pills. Hrodna regional branch pf the United Civil Party is preparing a statement to the prosecutor’s office demanding to bring up a criminal action against doctors of the local mental hospital. According to Deutsche Welle, Russian psychiatrists have come to a conclusion that treatment inappropriate to the state of his health had been provided to him.

Pavel Yazerski was detained on July 7 during a rally in memory of abducted ORT cameraman Dzmitry Zavadsky. He refused to give evidence, and because of that he was taken to a mental hospital. He was kept there for 10 days getting some injections and pills each day. As said by his mother, Felixa Branislavauna, there was no diagnosis indicated in his documents when he was discharged from the hospital. Doctors refused to say which medications were administered to him.

Pavel’s mother says that he was forced to sign a document about his being treated in the hospital as a voluntary patient. “How could it be a voluntary treatment when he was taken to the hospital from a police department?” the woman says. And Pavel Yazerski told that doctors advised him not to be involved in political activism in order to avoid confinement in a mental hospital again.

Hrodna state-run TV commented the incident in the following way: opposition engages mentally ill citizens to take part in protest rallies.

Then the UCP leadership decided to carry out an independent examination of Yazerski’s state of health. He went to Russia. One of Moscow hospitals issued a conclusion decision that he does not have any mental illnesses, only an emotional disorder with is frequent in many people in stressful situations. And recently Pavel had a family tragedy, his brother and father died.

“It means that Yazerski was kept in the mental hospital not because of his illness, but on order of the regime,” beieves the chairman of Hrodna regional branch of the UCP Yury Istomin. He also says that the accident with Pavel Istomin is a typical case of punitive psychiatry, widespread in the Soviet Union. It was used against dissenters.