<DIV>In Russian Federation it became known now from previously opened archives of Inner Affairs Ministry, that in 1939 - 1941, Lavrenty Beria, Stalin's minister of inner affairs, initiated a review of affairs, and 1\3 of prisoners were freed. (They were judjed at previous minister Yezhov). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The reason of affairs' review were evidence under violence.</DIV>
<DIV>In Stalin's USSR, according to judgement laws, the violence at getting evidence was a reason to review the affair.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>To compare, the Supreme Court of USA issued a decree in 1991, asserting that from now evidence at getting evidence in criminal affairs is acceptable, and evidence got even in violation of Constitutional rights of citizens can be lawfully accepted by courts as well. <BR><BR><B><I>Premise Checker <checker@panix.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Soviet-Style Psychiatry Carries On Mistreating Mentally Healthy<BR>Citizens<BR>http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/968/opinion/o_12455.htm<BR>[Thanks to Amara for finding this article.]<BR><BR><BR>OPINION<BR><BR>By Vladimir Kovalev It might seem like science fiction, but amendments<BR>to a law on psychiatric assistance filed by a group of psychiatrists<BR>at the end of last year could drag Russia back into the Soviet past<BR>when people disapproved of by the authorities ended up in mental<BR>institutions. Their "treatment" was designed to make sure that if they<BR>were not already crazy then it would make them so.<BR><BR>"[Compulsory] treatment can begin after a psychiatrists' commission<BR>decides on it; in emergencies it can be initiated by the doctor who<BR>examined the patient," an amendment to one article says.<BR><BR>And this is not the most frightening example.<BR><BR>At the
moment, only a court can institute compulsory treatment. If<BR>that changes in the way the amendments propose, society could be faced<BR>with people who have no mental illnesses at all being "treated" merely<BR>because they are out of favor with someone, be it an angry neighbor or<BR>an official.<BR><BR>If amendments filed by Moscow's Serbsky Mental Institute become law, a<BR>patient could be detained in a mental hospital for 10 days without a<BR>court order and treated punitively if he or she "is unable to perceive<BR>reality, but is not handicapped." In other words, anybody taken from a<BR>street on a broad daylight can be treated without their consent.<BR><BR>The State Duma rejected the draft amendments, but there is a danger<BR>that in the current situation, when the authorities are trying to<BR>control every segment of society, even worse amendments will appear.<BR><BR>It is not the law that needs reforming, but the mental institutions<BR>themselves.<BR><BR>According to human
rights advocates little has changed in psychiatric<BR>clinics since Soviet times, not even the attitude of staff to their<BR>patients.<BR><BR>A report filed this year by Roman Chyorny, head of the Citizen's<BR>Commission for Human Rights, suggests that in several cases St.<BR>Petersburg mental institutions killed patients by destroying their<BR>minds and sometimes through physical harm.<BR><BR>A chapter called "Fascism in Ward No. 6" tells of a boy admitted to<BR>Skvortsova Stepanova Mental Hospital with simple concussion.<BR><BR>"The next day I saw my son in the hospital," said mother Anna<BR>Solovyova. "He was sitting naked, absolutely soaking wet. He told me<BR>they gave him large amounts of medication - 68 pills. His condition<BR>was constantly getting worse. Ulcers appeared in his mouth. He<BR>couldn't eat. He became so thin in the hospital that he started<BR>looking like a skeleton ..."<BR><BR>Two months later, the boy was delivered to the Alexandrovskaya<BR>Hospital in a
critical condition. "Do you know why your son is dying?"<BR>a doctor at that hospital asked the mother. "He's dying of bedsores.<BR>Why did you allow him to get into such a state. Why didn't you<BR>complain?" Solovyova said she trusted the doctors at Skvortsova<BR>Stepanova. The reward for her trust was her son's eventual death.<BR><BR>And this is just one of several similar cases documented in the<BR>report. One article described the St. Petersburg Human Brain Institute<BR>of the Russian Academy of Science announcing in 1997 that it could<BR>treat drug addiction by "a unique surgery." The "surgery" was to drill<BR>a hole in the brain and fill in a section responsible for pleasure<BR>with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius. As<BR>a result, this part of the brain would be distorted.<BR><BR>According to the report, the institute offered this surgery at 135,000<BR>rubles ($4,655) for Russians and $8,000 for foreigners. A total of 335<BR>people took the
treatment until in 2002 one of the patients filed a<BR>suit against the institute. The court revealed that the operations<BR>were performed without Health Ministry approval and were, in fact,<BR>experiments on people.<BR><BR>At the end of 2002, the institute ceased to offer the operations after<BR>a St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office decision and recommendations by<BR>the Health Ministry. But in autumn 2003, the operations were resumed,<BR>with an announcement placed on the Human Brain Institute's official<BR>web site http://www.ihb.spb.ru/index_1.html. It says the success rate<BR>is 60 percent, but makes no mention of what happens to the other 40<BR>percent of patients.<BR><BR>In human rights circles it is well known that many psychiatrists at<BR>local mental institutions have not only kept their jobs after the<BR>demise of the Soviet Union, even though they had persecuted<BR>dissidents, but they are also still treating patients the same way<BR>they did years ago. Their methods are
known as karatelnaya meditsina<BR>or punitive medicine.<BR><BR>"Soviet punitive psychiatry came through perestroika unscathed and<BR>intact," the report quotes Memorial member Valentin Smirnov as saying.<BR>"There is absolutely the same red professorship ... the same ignoble<BR>methods of 'treating' citizens who are out of favor with the<BR>authorities, and the same senseless cruelty."<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>paleopsych mailing list<BR>paleopsych@paleopsych.org<BR>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><p>
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