Seized by the state: to a mental hospital for indefinite picketing of the presidential administration

Igor Gorlanov, a graduate of an orphanage from Novokuznetsk, is 21 years old. Gorlanov held protests in Novokuznetsk and achieved the allocation of the apartment he was entitled to by law. In Moscow, Gorlanov planned to organize an indefinite picket of the presidential administration in order to achieve a personal meeting with Putin. He was placed in a psychiatric hospital on the first day of the protest.

Ask about money

“I got the idea [that I need to ask] where did the money go to provide housing for orphans and other needy low-income people. <...> Or at least clarify, find out what the most important mistakes, in his opinion, Vladimir Putin made during his entire presidential career,” - at the end of October 2019, Igor Gorlanov explained in his YouTube channel “Seized by the State” his desire to meet with president.

In Novokuznetsk, Gorlanov picketed the city hall for a long time. His protest was crowned with success: he received the apartment allotted to him as an orphan. After this, the young man traveled around Russia, participated in various actions, including environmental protests in Kiselevsk and Shies.

In one of his videos on YouTube, Gorlanov tore up a brochure with the text of the Russian Constitution: he called it “crap” that does not help to realize civil rights. After this, the Kuzbass Center for Countering Extremism tried to initiate prosecution of Gorlanov for “disrespect for authority,” but the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, after inspections , did not open an administrative case. Gorlanov was assisted by Agora lawyer Maria Yankina.

The young man began the protest at the presidential administration on the evening of December 26, 2019. He announced this on his YouTube channel and was soon detained and then hospitalized in the capital's psychiatric hospital No. 4 named after. Gannushkina.

Negative scenario

Activists Nelly Adamyan and Milya Kashapova visited Gorlanov in a hospital in Moscow and recorded his story for OVD-Info:

“I just stood at the entrance, there was no picket. Sometimes he walked back and forth from joint to joint. After the broadcast ended, I spent about forty minutes there before being detained.

First, FSO officers approached, who usually work at the Kremlin; they were in uniform. They tried to ask: “Why are you standing here?”, or something like that. I asked for identification and said that if they didn’t show anything, there would be no dialogue. They stepped aside and stood until the very end.

Then the police officers came up and began asking for my passport details. Another FSO officer in plainclothes approached. There were five of them in total. I wrote down the badge number of the one who didn't introduce himself. They never stated the reasons for checking the documents. They asked about my age and so on, I let them look at my passport. They passed it around to each other, and then the employee I gave it to did not return my passport. I asked him: “Are you a moron?” That’s what they got hooked on and took me away.”

In a conversation with Adamyan and Kashapova, Gorlanov claimed that he did not show aggression towards the police at the police department - he only demanded the return of his passport and sometimes cried because he was not told why he was detained and when he would be released. Soon an ambulance arrived and took Gorlanov to a psychiatric hospital. The young man says that when he was hospitalized, he was hit in the ribs and face, but there were no bruises.

“There were three [orderlies]: one woman and two men. The woman filled out all the documents and swore, but that’s how they behaved to everyone there. They brought me here [to the mental hospital]. I didn’t take off my clothes myself, because it was their initiative to bring me, I didn’t want to be here. Therefore, they forcibly took off my clothes, put on this one (points to his plaid shirt and trousers, the same ones other patients are wearing), placed me in the ward where there is supervision, and tied my arms and legs to the bed, although I did not resist . I woke up already in the ward in which there were ordinary patients, over whom there was no supervision,” Gorlanov told Adamyan and Kashapova.

At the end of December, doctors at the hospital named after. Gannushkina gave Gorlanov a certain psychiatric diagnosis and, through the court, obtained his forced hospitalization until February 2020. Gorlanov told Adamyan and Kashapova that he did not remember the trial well, as he was under the influence of certain pills.

The young man said that the hospital did not explain to him how long he had to stay there, what kind of disease the doctors found in him, or what pills they would give him. According to Gorlanov, he considered the possibility of being sent to a mental hospital when he began indefinite picketing of the presidential administration: this was a negative scenario for him.

Looks healthy

“I visited [Gorlanov in the hospital] three times, I didn’t know him before. He looks like a completely healthy person, without visible signs of disorder or aggression, but I am not a doctor. Whether his story [about his arrest] is true or not can probably only be found out in court. Before this, I had never been to a psychiatric hospital. We met in the living room. This is an ordinary room filled with furniture. Everything is clean, everything is neat. The doctors were like in regular clinics: they didn’t shout at anyone in front of us, they didn’t inject anyone with anything,” Milya Kashapova told OVD-Info.

Gorlanov’s lawyer from Human Rights Postcard, Anri Tsiskarishvili, noted in a conversation with OVD-Info that Gorlanov had not previously been seen by a psychiatrist. Tsiskarishvili cannot yet talk about what medications his client is receiving and what diagnosis was made: he has not yet received consent from his client to distribute medical information.

“Gorlanov was detained to check his documents. The police felt that he behaved inappropriately - this is their subjective opinion - and called an ambulance. An ambulance took him to a psychiatric hospital. [He was sent for compulsory treatment] based on the conclusion of the doctors [of the hospital named after. Gannushkina]: otherwise, in their opinion, this will lead to a deterioration in his health. We filed a complaint against this decision with the prosecutor's office and are waiting for our complaint to be brought to trial. The doctors justified [hospitalization] by his general behavior, including his active political position,” the lawyer said.

Tsiskarishvili believes that Gorlanov’s hospitalization is a reaction to his intention to picket the presidential administration: “It is impossible to predict how [law enforcement] agencies will react to some unpleasant moment for them. This time they did it."

According to the lawyer, in the event of forced hospitalization, for the first six months, doctors are required to obtain monthly consent from the court to continue treatment, after six months this must be done annually. However, Tsiskarishvili does not think that Gorlanov will be kept in the hospital for a long time.

Hospital administration Gannushkina published an “official statement” that “the information (about Gorlanov’s hospitalization for his political activities - OVD-Info ) is false. The publications distort reality, are also slanderous and are aimed at discrediting the psychiatric service.” The statement also “reminds” journalists of their responsibility for spreading false information.

The statement does not provide any details of Gorlanov’s detention or the reasons for his hospitalization. At the hospital. Gannushkina OVD-Info promised a detailed commentary on the situation, but did not provide it at the time of publication of the text.

In the second half of January, Gorlanov was transferred from Moscow to the Kemerovo Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital. Tsiskarishvili explains this by the fact that Gorlanov is registered in the Kemerovo region. It was not possible to reach the Kemerovo hospital by phone when preparing the text.

In Kuzbass, Gorlanov was visited twice by local supporters of Alexei Navalny. In the video they filmed, Gorlanov says that he is being given haloperidol. Haloperidol is a well-known antipsychotic drug used since the mid-20th century. It is still used for medicinal purposes, but has a rather dark reputation: it was often used in Soviet times against dissidents. Haloperidol was in demand in punitive psychiatry, as it causes inhibition in the patient.

According to Kuzbass activists, Gorlanov is going to be transferred from the Kemerovo regional hospital to some other hospital in Novokuznetsk. Activist Stanislav Kalinichenko notes that Gorlanov looks bad as a result of taking pills:

“The will is completely suppressed, memory lapses, a detached, absent-minded look, the inability to remember any details, a complete lack of emotions, alienation. Speech is just as slow <…> I just saw how a person is turned into a plant. And they are not going to stop yet.”