Putin's critic's mental hospital ordeal

[Alexandra Smith]

Dear colleagues,

Just to draw your attention to a disturbing article on the use of  
mental hospital treatment in Murmansk for political purposes which was  
published in The Independent yesterday. See an extract from it and the  
link to it below.

All best,
Alexandra



Putin critic tells of her mental hospital ordeal
By Alastair Gee in Moscow
Published: 22 August 2007
Larisa Arap has just emerged from a 46-day imprisonment in two Russian  
psychiatric hospitals. Pills were forced down her throat and she  
received injection after injection. She doesn't know what medications  
they were, or whether they will cause permanent damage.

"I don't feel very well, but I have a fighting spirit," Mrs Arap said  
yesterday, adding that sometimes she was so drugged she could barely  
walk or speak

She was forcibly interned, not for health reasons, but over her  
association with the opposition group led by former chess star Garry  
Kasparov, the United Civil Front. Her arrest stemmed from the  
publication of an article entitled "Madhouse," exposing the ghoulish  
practices of a Russian psychiatric hospital in the Murmansk edition of  
his organisation's newspaper, Dissenters' March.
The full article is located at ths site:  
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2883868.ece



=====================================
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Lecturer in Russian
School of European Languages and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EX8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
fax: +44- (0)131- 650-3604
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk





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The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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