Russian court sends shaman who promised to “expel Putin” to mandatory treatment
Alexander Gabyshev, a resident of Sakha (also known as Yakutia, a region within Russia) who calls himself a “shaman” and a “white magician” and promises to “expel” Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be sent to mandatory treatment in a neuropsychiatric dispensary. This decision was made by the Yakutsk City Court on June 2, reports Novaya Gazeta.
The term of his treatment has not yet been determined. Clinic representatives insisted on Gabyshev’s mandatory hospitalization because, in their opinion, the shaman “suffers from an inflated sense of his own personal power.”
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“Doctors justify this decision by saying that Gabyshev expressed the desire to ‘bring harm to the government and overthrow Putin, since he is a demon and antichrist,’ and has also called for ‘overthrowing the legally-elected government,’ said Alexei Pryanishnikov, coordinator of the Human Rights Postcards organization.
Before the court session, the mayor of Yakutsk, Sardan Avksentieva, spoke in support of Gabyshev and called the persecution of the shaman “selective punishment.” In her opinion, if this decision is enforced, “the practice of forcing people into mandatory treatment any time the phrase ‘personality assessment’ is used may be revived.”
The shaman himself was calm at the time. “Even if the trial has a negative outcome, this is not the end: when you sow the wind, you reap a whirlwind,” said Gabyshev, as reported by human rights activists.
In 2019, Alexander Gabyshev set off on a hike to Moscow so that, as he claimed, he could “expel Putin” with the help of magic. Gabyshev calls himself a white magician who was called to free Russia from the “demonic power” of the current president.
The shaman was detained in September 2019 after walking through Siberia for six months. He was sent to Yakutia and put under house arrest.
