A US citizen, Joseph Tater, who is due to go on trial in Russia next week, has been forcefully moved to a psychiatric hospital.
According to Russian state media, this came after a court agreed to a request from doctors.
The 46-year-old was arrested in Moscow in August 2024 and accused of assaulting a police officer after abusing staff at a hotel.
If Tater is convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
On March 15, a medical commission of doctors from Moscow’s Alexeyeva psychiatric hospital carried out tests that showed that Tater showed “tension, impulsiveness [and] delusional ideas and attitudes”;, including a sense of “persecution”; and “lack of critical attitude towards his state”;.
A Moscow court then agreed to a request from doctors at a psychiatric hospital for Tater to undergo forcible hospitalisation as an in patient due to mental illness.
Tater’s trial is due to begin on April 14. It is being reported that his case could be dismissed if the Meshchansky District Court accepts the psychiatric diagnosis, which could lead to court-ordered treatment instead of trial.
