Transatlantic Politics

Putin has resurrected another Stalinist recipe for dealing with critics and opponents, apart from imprisoning and murdering: forced placement in a mental institution.

It's another female journalist, just like Anna Politkovskaia. Her name is Larissa Arap. Radio France Internationale reports that she has been arrested in Murmansk and then forcedly placed in a mental hospital. In June she had published an article about the cruel and inhumane treatment children are submitted to in the local mental institutions, including electroshocks. Arap is also an active member of Gary Kasparov's opposition party, who now accuses the resurrection of Stalinist methods.

AFP talked to the local leader of Kasparov's party, Elena Vassilieva, who said that Arap was arrested on July 6, while passing a medical test for obtaining a driver's licence: "The doctor told her to wait on the hallway, then all of a sudden, the police arrived with an ambulance and took her by force." After being held in custody in a clinic for a while, Arap was transferred on July 26 to a psychiatric clinic with restricted access, 150 km away from the city, said Vassilieva. "We don't think she's ill. Maybe she had some breakdown, but she never lost her temper or became a threat to anyone. It's a return of the Stalinist repression", claims Vassilieva as quoted by AFP. 

A press spokesman of the regional governor declared that, although he's not aware of this particular case, it is impossible for her to have been placed in a mental institution on political reasons. "I completely rule out the idea that it's a case of political repression. There is no persecution of opponents. Everyone can express his point of view. It's absurd."

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