Shaman Gabyshev regrets nothing, despite his continued imprisonment in a mental hospital

A year has passed since the second forced hospitalization of the Yakut shaman Alexander Gabyshev, who tried to organize a “campaign against Moscow”, in a psychiatric hospital. By a court decision, he is being treated in a specialized psychiatric hospital under the protection of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Novosibirsk.

Human rights activist Aleksey Pryanishnikov, who represents Gabyshev’s interests in court, told TV2 that on January 26, the first six months of treatment expired, after which, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is necessary to conduct a re-examination. And in court to decide on the extension of treatment, or transfer to less severe conditions of detention, or release. According to the human rights activist, one cannot hope for release – as the psychiatrists with whom the lawyers work explain, they say that under no circumstances is a person released from a special type institution with intensive surveillance. Only a phased transfer to another type of mode is possible. Right now, human rights activists are waiting for a notification from the Zaeltsovsky District Court. The 9th Constitutional Court in Vladivostok has a complaint about compulsory treatment, and the first complaint about hospitalization has been registered with the ECHR.

Meanwhile, according to Pryanishnikov, the shaman has not changed his views on the situation in the country, regarding the political situation, and he remains of his opinion that it is necessary to achieve a change of power in the country. “But psychiatrists have introduced this fashionable formulation into everyday life and considered the ideas “reformist”, and that the shaman is dangerous for himself and those around him. And they closed. A man was deprived of liberty and tortured for expressing his opinion,” says the human rights activist.

He stressed that Gabyshev did not regret his campaigns. “He does not express any calls for violence and every time he emphasizes that not a single hair should fall from the person who now runs the country. He simply assumes that it is quite normal to demand a change of power,” Pryanishnikov said.

Recall that Alexander Gabyshev first announced a march on Moscow to “expel” Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019. He managed to reach Buryatia, where he was detained in September 2019. In June 2020, the court ruled for the first time to send the shaman to a mental hospital. The lawsuit then claimed that Gabyshev “suffers from an overestimation of his personality.” In July, the shaman was discharged.

Later, Gabyshev was tried for using violence against an employee of the National Guard: in January 2021, the shaman was once again detained, to which he responded with resistance. The prosecution requested that Gabyshev be sent for compulsory treatment to a “specialized psychiatric institution with intensive supervision,” which happened.