A court in Russia’s Vladivostok region has extended a mental hospital term for Alexander Gabyshev, a shaman who announced he would journey to Moscow on foot to “banish” Vladimir Putin back in 2019, Gabyshev’s lawyer reports.
The decision was made by judge Dmitry Babushkin. The hospital's medical board appealed to the court that Gabyshev should be moved to a regular facility on 12 July, however, another board in the same hospital declared his state had been becoming worse on 27 July and kept him in the mental ward.
“Alexander was unaware of his new term, and so was I. Obviously, we petitioned to set up a forensic psychiatric examination, and the hospital backed us, surprisingly. However, the judge dismissed our motion,” the lawyer says.
Gabyshev was sent to a mental hospital a year ago. He faced criminal charges in February 2021 for use of violence against a police officer shortly after he had been sentenced to forced treatment in a mental ward. He spent a month in a similar facility earlier in 2020.
Gabyshev announced he would walk all the way from Russia’s Far East to Moscow in order to “banish” Vladimir Putin in 2019. His journey ended in Buryatia where he was detained.
