Is Soviet-era punitive psychiatry making a return? | Russia

Crimean Tatar activist Ilmi Umerov was undergoing hospital treatment for a heart condition, when Russian special services officers forcibly transferred him to a psychiatric hospital in August. He was held in psychiatric confinement for 21 days. During this time, Umerov, 59, who also suffers from diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, was denied medication, causing his health to deteriorate rapidly. “