A Far East court has overturned a decision to transfer anti-Putin shaman Alexander Gabyshev from a high-security psychiatric facility to a general hospital, his lawyer said Friday.
Prosecutors had appealed a lower court’s December ruling to move Gabyshev, 56, to a less restrictive hospital, lawyer Alexei Pryanishnikov said. The Primorsky Regional Court granted the appeal and sent the case back for a new trial in the Ussuriysky District Court.
“The four-year-long runaround continues,” Pryanishnikov wrote on Telegram.
Gabyshev was arrested in 2019, seven months after setting off on a trek from his native republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to Moscow to “exorcize” President Vladimir Putin.
He has spent most of the past six years in psychiatric hospitals, where he has been subjected to life-threatening treatments, according to his lawyer. Pryanishnikov has said independent medical experts have attested to Gabyshev’s mental sanity.
Amnesty International and the Russian human rights group Memorial recognize Gabyshev as a political prisoner.
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