Press Release, 25.10.2022

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

The conclusion of the judicial psychiatric commission of experts on the state of health of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the leader of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, dated 14 October, 2022, has been released. Forensic experts from the Yakutia Psychoneurological Dispensary confirm that the politician is healthy and does not need compulsory treatment, however, the experts distorted his words about the goals of the Yabloko’s work, writing that Yabloko aimed at seizing power in the state.

The commission of the Yakutian Psychoneurological Dispensary asked Anatoly Nogovitsyn questions about his childhood and personal life, the status of a military man, and also asked several times about the purpose of Nogovitsyn recording 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 the party. This question was also repeatedly asked by the investigator. The conclusion of the forensic experts, quotes the words of Anatoly Nagovitsyn that he “just wanted to express his opinion,” which is permitted by the Russian Constitution.

The conclusion of the forensic experts also indicated that Anatoly Nogovitsyn had not had any mental disorders, was neither alcoholic nor a drug addict, and did not need coercive medical measures to be applied to him.

However, while quoting verbatim some of Nogovitsyn’s answers to the commission’s questions, the experts (either on purpose or not) distorted his words about the goals of the Yabloko party. When asked what goals the party was pursuing, the politician replied that the main goal of all political parties, including Yabloko, was to come to power and gain power to implement their programmes. The conclusion, under which all members of the commission signed, his phrase was changed into the “seizure of state power”. Nogovitsyn made a note in the protocol of familiarisation with the results of the examination that his words had been distorted.

Anatoly Nogovitsyn is a defendant in a criminal case on “discrediting the army” for publishing a video message to the residents of Yakutia on his Telegram channel, where he voiced his opinion about “partial mobilization” and the so-called “special operation”. Earlier, the politician had been fined 30,000 roubles for “discrediting the army” (under Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) after posting a video commentary by Novaya Gazeta journalist Yelena Kostyuchenko about what was happening in Ukraine. The investigator appointed the politician a forensic psychiatric examination, which took place in the same psycho-neurological dispensary where Yakutian 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.

The investigation continues. Anatoly Nogovitsyn continues to be under home arrest and under the ban on certain actions.

Read more about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the “special operation”: https://www.yabloko.ru/war-against-yabloko