 Kazan Human Rights Centre reports that human rights activists have called, in a written request, for the public prosecutor of the Sovetsky city district of Kazan to respond should it be revealed that the law was violated in the case of Yevgeny Pirogov. In October 2012 the Yoshkar-Ola City Court of the Mari El Republic ruled that Yevgeny Pirogov should be placed in a medical centre so that a hospital commission forensic psychiatric examination could take place within 30 days. After the court ruling came into force on 5th December, Pirogov was taken to the republic’s Clinical Psychiatric Hospital run by the Tatarstan Ministry for Health (Kazan). The time limit for Pirogov’s stay in hospital ended on 4th January 2013, but he wasn’t discharged on that day. Pursuant to article 30 of the Federal Law on “State forensic activity in the Russian Federation”, where appropriate, and based on a substantiated request by an expert or a commission of experts, the duration of a person’s stay in hospital can be extended by a further 30 days at the medical centre with a ruling by the district court. The relevant request should be presented to the court no later than three days before the 30-day time limit expires. Igor Sholokhov, director of the Kazan Human Rights Centre, states that “The Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia unambiguously interpreted the experts’ action on this occasion. We believe that Pirogov’s detention in a psychiatric hospital without a court ruling is a violation of his right to freedom of movement.” Today, human rights activists appealed to Farid Latypov, public prosecutor for the Sovetsky City District of Kazan, with a request to conduct an enquiry into the administration of federal legislation and, in the event of a violation, to take action to obtain a response from the public prosecutor. P.S. 30-year old Yevgeny Pirogov is involved in criminal proceedings with regards to the public affront of a person in a position of authority (article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, Pirogov took a shot at Leonid Markelov, head of the Mari El Republic, in front of police officers. The civil activist had applied to the non-governmental organisation “Individual and the Law” (Mari El) for legal assistance. Sergei Poduzov, director of the NGO "Individual and the Law", stated “The last time Yevgeny called me, on 17th January, he reported that the doctors were intending to keep him in the psychiatric hospital until the end of the month.” |
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