Punitive Medicine? Crimean Tatars Shaken By Leader's Confinement To Mental Asylum

When a court in Russian-annexed Crimea ordered activist Ilmi Umerov to a psychiatric clinic for a month of assessment tests, the decision sent shock waves through the peninsula's indigenous ethnic Tatar minority.

For two and a half decades, authorities in Crimea have refrained from the routine Soviet-era practice of declaring dissidents mentally ill, condemning them to life in an insane asylum. But now, Umerov's sentencing and subsequent confinement to a psychiatric clinic in Simferopol suggests a return to the practice.

Crimean prosecutors first charged Umerov, the former deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body -- the Mejlis -- with separatism in May after he made public statements opposing Moscow's seizure of the peninsula from Ukraine. Then, on August 11, while he was under home detention during his trial, a court ordered Umerov to undergo psychiatric testing. A week later, he was forcibly committed to Simferopol's Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 for a 28-day period.

The forced admission to the clinic stunned Umerov's colleagues and supporters, who say the 59-year-old community leader is anything but mentally unbalanced. "I have known him for 30 years, I know him well," Abdure**** Dzhepparov, coordinator of the Crimean Contact Group on Human Rights, told RFE/RL on August 22. "I may not be an expert psychiatrist, but on the eve of his removal to the psychiatric clinic, I know that he was without a doubt in full mental health."

Umerov's sudden dispatch to a mental institution, where for the first several days he was denied visitors or the use of a telephone, reminded many of the dark days when dissidents in the Soviet Union simply disappeared into asylums, never to be seen or heard from again. "This is the first case in [post-Soviet] Crimea where they have placed a normal person in a psychiatric hospital," said Dzhepparov. "If you do not fight against it now, and try to change it, there could be second, third, and fourth cases...until it becomes a conveyor belt."...........

Well this isn't going to improve relations with Russia......



Ukraine mulls referendum on NATO membership

Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko plans to put NATO membership to a referendum after polls showed 54 percent of the country favored joining the alliance, German media reported Thursday.

“Four years ago, only 16 percent [of the Ukrainian people] favored Ukraine’s entry into NATO. Now it’s 54 percent,” Funke Mediengruppe quoted Poroshenko as saying in an interview. “As president, I am guided by the views of my people, and I will hold a referendum on the issue of NATO membership.” Poroschenko said he would “do all I can” to achieve NATO membership if people voted in favor.......

NATO calls on Russia to stop violence in Ukraine

Russian Defense Ministry summons Ukrainian attaché over ‘dangerous’ warplane flight

Ukraine: Avdiivka, the front line of Europe's 'forgotten war' - BBC News

Also there are pictures on BBC of Ukrainian Tanks next to OSCE vehicles while Kiev saying none are there.

Yes, and those tanks are specially located between apartment buildings in living quarters. Clearly, the Ukrainian army attempted an offensive operation to test the reaction from the new US administration. And when the offensive has not yielded the results they hoped for (the forces were stopped by the separatists) they started crying about the losses (while the whole multi-million city of Donetsk was left without water and heating for a few days in cold winter).

Many would suggest that an operation in your own country against separatist elements backed by a hostile foreign power is actually a 'defensive' operation.

You mean like in Syria.

Until Poroshenko starts barrel/carpet bombing and gassing his own people, nothing like in Syria.

melmothtw,

Just from the beginning of the conflict and thru these days the Ukrainian army is often using BM-21 "Grad" (122 mm multiple rocket launcher) against living quarters. This artillery system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21_Grad
was developed in SU back in 60's against millions of Chinese who were a real threat in Far East at that time. Quite comparable to a massive bomber attack.

Even more, "Tochka" and "Tochka-U" ballistic missiles (9М79М and 9М79-1, or SS-21 as per NATO classification) were used there in 2014 and 2015. Again, against masses of (their own civil) population in urban areas.

With respect A_Van, given Russia's policy of disinformation in Crimea/Ukraine ( Russia?s top 100 lies about Ukraine ) and knowing nothing about you other than you say you hail from Moscow, I will take anything you have to say on the subject with a large dose of salt. No offence intended.

Kiev attacked the people in his own country who refused Kiev rule, not the other way round.

As for mass bombing of people think guess using grad rockets against Civilian areas is ok as long as you support those doing it.

No doubt this is true in your Alt-Fact universe Racedo, just as the Georgian government clearly attacked its own people in Ossetia and Abkhazia also. As for those us not following the post-truth agenda, the timeline as to who has been attacking who in that part of the world, and for what reason, is quite clear.

And the Russian government totally obliterated the cities of Chechnya - but that's OK, that's internal and in their view nothing to do with the world.

In the meantime they invade Ukraine because of what they do and annex Crimea. Then eastern Ukraine is flooded by "men in black" - hint, theyre not hunting aliens and are serving Russian troops, supported by massed Russian tank and artillery - and lets perhaps mention shooting down passing airlines.

There is only one aggressor here - and it's name is Putin.

Take your slimy Russian propaganda elsewhere.

Is it clear; really? Far from it in my book. Anything presented that does not fit your false model gets palmed off. Wtf is a post-truth agenda anyway?

Of course Putin has an agenda, it's on his doorstep. Did anyone seriously not expect Russia to secure Crimea?

I'm not sure whether it was EU expansionist incompetence or something more sinister but we seem to be backing a pretty unsavoury bunch. Scratch the surface just a little and the far right are there. Once again, I believe we think we are smarter than we actually are and are royally xxxxxxx up by not truly understanding the psyche of the people.

To give an idea where I'm coming from; my wife is from Horlivka and up until this whole sad saga I generally believed what our venerable institutions told us. She has challenged me to open my eyes, and with access to some of the local media and social media (friends) I am seeing the world through a different lens, and it's not pretty.

For example, I'm sure most of us hold the OSCE in some regard. Performing a difficult task with their reports often, it appears to me at least, used and abused for political capital. Look at them from the other side of the fence. They become just another western military organisation with,at best, no credibility and at worst they are viewed with complete distrust. When they turn up in a neighbourhood it goes quiet. As soon as they depart it gets noisy, means as suggested by the posters above. And yes, it is happening. Also, have a look at the outcome following their report into the Odessa massacre. I'm sure there are representations and 'mentoring' going on in the background, etc,etc. But to average Ivan steel worker/miner in Dombass it is truly disgusting appeasement and a tacit green light to bad people.

Please don't misunderstand me, I have utmost respect for any journalist putting themselves in harms way seeking the truth. I just don't think we get it anymore and for certain our 'impartial' media are doing a piss-poor job in telling both sides of the story.

Official statistics reports that 5+ percent of the Ukrainian population is staying/working in Russia. Only in 2015, about 1 mln Ukrainians arrived here seeking for work and better/safer life. And only a minor part of them is from Donbass (Crimea is totally excluded from this statistics). If there was a war between Russia and Ukraine, do you think they would do it? Can you imagine French of British people massively and volunteerly going to Germany in 1940?


There was mentioning of "top Russian lies about Ukraine" some posts above. No doubt, Russian mainstrean media often lies, I agree. But the same about the western media and similar "collections of lies" do exist addressing opposite direction. Truth is indeed difficult to find and in the civil war all sides are both to be blamed and both have "their own truth".


Mentioning Russian troops in Ukraine is so much beyond average russophobia that even official Kiev is not using it that often. If there were regular troops there, they would be in Kiev in 2 days and you would have crowds of current Ukrainian establishment members knocking your British doors crying for asylum. Donbass is a large area that inherited a hell amount of weapons and military industry. No doubt, there are foreign advisors on both sides. Like in Syria where many western advisors help folks like an-Nusra (read Al-Qaeda).


One more point: it always amazes me when people who never witnessed anything consider themselves as experts (I mean not forum members, but media and journalists). EU and US people write articles and books about Russia-Ukraine and likes trying to "teach the locals". Imagine that I would start talking about issues like "Britain vs Northern Ireland" or "England vs Scotland" insisting that UK people "do not know all the truth". It would be correct "to offer me some hard erotic treatment".


In general, I find this discussion quite fruitless.

Nobody questions the fact that the Russians invaded Ukraine, because its laughable to suggest they didn't. Even Putin has spoke in detail on the Russian military operation to seize Crimea.
The fact that the Russian army is incapable of defeating Ukraine's small, poorly equipped army is not something to are going to believe if you live in Putin's alternate universe.

Quite a lot of just "advisers" from Russia. Some of them from Russian units messed up and compromised themselves on social media. If they have enough weapons and equipment then why did they need to be supplied over the border from Russia?

See for example the links in regards to the 6th Tank Brigade. Yes, no doubt the deniers will claim that the personnel just volunteered during their leave to go and fight in Ukraine. Harder to explain the tanks that those personnel were operating. The media that they took compromised themselves in that respect. They failed to sanitize their tanks of some unique tactical markings before deploying.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...erous-numbers/

https://www.bellingcat.com/wp-conten...sNumbers-4.pdf

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...de-in-donbass/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...-tank-brigade/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...-brigade-pt-2/

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources...a-and-ukraine/

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publi...ov-s-putin-war

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources...ed-in-ukraine/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...i-geolocation/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a.../three-graves/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...editel-sobaka/

Polish foreign minister: Russia will ?very likely? annex Donbass ? POLITICO

There is a “great probability” that Moscow will take over the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Wednesday during a visit to Kyiv, Radio Poland reported.

Waszczykowski warned Russia is already issuing identity cards and passports, seizing Ukrainian property and cutting the eastern region off from the rest of the country.

The Polish foreign minister said the situation in Donbass is getting “ever more difficult” as Moscow doesn’t respect the Minsk peace deal signed in 2014. “It’s very dangerous,” he said.......

And with the turkey in the White House, one does not hold out much hope for them, I do wonder if Putin is using it as an excuse to test his adversary.