State media says he is 46 years old and was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of assaulting a police officer diagnosed with a mental disorder.
According to Russian state media, a US citizen scheduled to go to trial in Russia next week after the court agreed to a doctor’s request, was forced to send him to a mental hospital.
Joseph Tater, 46, was arrested in Moscow in August 2024 and accused of assaulting a police officer after abusing a hotel staff member. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
The medical committee of doctors at the Alexayba Psychiatric Hospital in Moscow discovered that Tater showed “tension, impulsiveness” on March 15th [and] delusional ideas and attitudes, including a sense of “persecution” and “his lack of critical attitude towards the nation.”
A Moscow court has agreed to a request from a psychiatric hospital doctor to be forced to be admitted as an inpatient for mental illness, state-run TASS news agency reported on Sunday, citing court documents.
When the court issued a decision to hospitalize Tater, it was not immediately clear.
The Tater trial is scheduled to begin on April 14th. TASS reported that if Meshchansky District Court accepts a psychiatric diagnosis, his case will be dismissed.
The US citizen was sent to receive a psychiatric check for hospitalized patients at a Selvisky Centre in Moscow as part of an investigation into his case. The institution was well-known during the Soviet era for its publication of political opposition after receiving false diagnosis of mental illness.
Tater’s lawyers sued his hospitalization, accusing Russia of deciding that “we will isolate the defendant from society by placing him in a mental hospital.”
The defense attorney added that Tater came to Russia “to obtain political asylum in connection with persecution by relevant US authorities.”
Convict exchange
Russian authorities have arrested several US citizens in recent years on charges of being criticized by spies, from the theft of Russian troops to family conflicts.
Last year, Russia released Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan as part of a wider prisoner exchange with the US and other Western countries.
Sixteen people have been released from Russia, including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners.
Basketball star Britney Griner was released from Russian prisons in 2022 after a convicted arms dealer Victor match and prisoner exchange.
Griner was arrested at a Russian airport earlier that year, and she later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the discovery of cannabis-derived oil cartridges in her luggage.
She was sentenced to nine years in prison for possession and smuggling drugs. Griner said she made a “honest mistake” and had no intention of breaking the law.
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