An American man awaiting trial in Russia on charges of assault on a police officer was forced to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, reported the state Tass news agency on Sunday, citing court documents.
Joseph Tater, 46, was arrested in Moscow in August and indicted for assault on a police officer after allegedly harassing employees at the hotel where he lived. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Moscow’s Meshchansky Court approved a request from Doctors on Tater’s involuntary hospitalization with reference to signs of mental illness, Tass reported.
A Medical Commission from Moscow’s Alexeyev Psychiatric Clinical Hospital found on March 15, that Tater showed “excitement, impulsivity [and] Wild -ground ideas, “including a sense of persecution and” lack of critical attitude towards his state “, according to the report.
It was unclear when the court issued the order for admission.
As part of the investigation, Tater had previously undergone psychiatric evaluation in Moscow Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry – a facility notorious in the Soviet era to diagnose political dissidents with mental illness.
Tater’s trial is scheduled to begin on April 14. He was allegedly released from the detention of pre -attempts on March 13.
His defense lawyer has appealed the hospitalization and accused the authorities of trying to “isolate the defendant from the community,” Tass said.
Russia has arrested several US citizens in recent years on charges ranging from espionage and discrediting the Russian army to small theft and domestic disputes.
At a September hearing, Tater said he wanted to waive his US citizenship and demanded that embassy officials leave. He also claimed that the CIA had targeted him for years, according to Russian media.
Tater’s lawyer told the judge that his client had traveled to Russia “to seek political asylum because of the persecution of US authorities.”
In the midst of rising tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has facilitated roads for Western citizens to move to Russia on political reasons.
AFP contributed reporting.
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