Press Release, 15.10.2022

Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 14 October, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, leader of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, underwent a forensic psychiatric examination, which an investigator of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), appointed him as part of a criminal case under Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation”). The results have not yet been released. During the examination, they tried to provoke Anatoly Nogovitsyn to statements that could be used against him. Nogovitsyn fears that punitive psychiatric measures will be used against him.

It should be noted that a criminal case was opened against Anatoly Nogovitsyn for publishing a video message to the residents of Yakutia on his Telegram channel, in which he voiced his opinion about “partial mobilisation” and the so-called “special operation”. Earlier, Nogovitsyn had been already fined 30,000 roubles under Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for “discrediting the army” after the publication of a video commentary by Elena Kostyuchenko, a Novaya Gazeta journalist, about what had been happening in Ukraine. Now, during the investigation in a criminal case, Nogovitsyn is under a ban on certain actions.

The commission of the Yakutia Republican Psychoneurological Dispensary, consisting of four people, asked Anatoly Nogovitsyn questions about his childhood, his mother’s biography, and his personal life. The experts were especially interested in the status of a person liable for military service and the reasons why Nogovitsyn was assigned category B (limited fit for military service).

Several times the commission asked him the same question: for what purpose did Nogovitsyn record a video message criticising the mobilisation and the “special operation”? The forensic experts were also interested in whether the opinion expressed in the video was really his personal or was it the stance of his political party? This question had been also repeatedly asked by the investigator. The leading expert, before asking about the involvement of the Yabloko party, made a reservation that he was obliged to ask this.

The results of the forensic psychiatric examination will be ready in a month: Nogovitsyn will be able to get them from the investigator.

Anatoly Nogovitsyn fears that punitive psychiatric measures will be applied to him, given the sad “glory” of the Yakutian psychoneurological dispensary. It was there that shaman Alexander Gabyshev was undergoing compulsory treatment in the spring of 2020 [for his personal protest march from Yakutsk to Moscow]. A few months later, the dispensary’s experts found “signs of insanity” in Gabyshev.

Commenting on the criminal case, Anatoly Nogovitsyn suggests that it could have been initiated with the permission of the head of the republic, and the desire of the security forces to reach the Yabloko party as part of the investigation may be dictated by the desire of individual representatives to get promoted.

Read more about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the “special operation”.