The "General Pogrom" of Human Rights Defenders and Punitive Psychiatry (1972–1985)
The apogee of repressions under V. Shcherbytsky. Mass arrests of members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and of dissidents: emblematic is the fate of the poet Vasyl Stus, arrested in 1972 "together with other Ukrainian writer-human rights defenders" and a second time in 1980 - for his participation in the Helsinki Group[1]. To neutralize dissenters, punitive psychiatry was applied on a mass scale - declaring healthy people insane in order to isolate them indefinitely and subject them to torture by medication[2]. Many human rights defenders never regained their freedom: Stus "died in the punishment cell of special-regime camp VS-389/36" on the night of September 3–4, 1985[1].
Actors
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0022 | Punitive Medicine and Psychiatry | 2 |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services | 1 |
Procedures Carried Out
Mass arrests of members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and the fabrication of criminal cases: Vasyl Stus was "arrested on January 12, 1972 together with other Ukrainian writer-human rights defenders: I. Svitlychny, Ye. Sverstiuk, Ihor and Iryna Kalynets," and after joining the Helsinki Group in October 1979 he was "arrested a second time on May 14, 1980" and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and 5 years of exile[1]. He "died in the punishment cell of special-regime camp VS-389/36" and was buried "in a nameless grave under No. 9 in the camp cemetery"[1].
Use of state healthcare institutions for the politically motivated diagnosing of dissenters (the diagnosis of "sluggish schizophrenia") and their indefinite confinement in psychiatric hospitals[2].
Administration of destructive pharmaceutical drugs (neuroleptics) as a means of physical and psychological pressure on healthy human rights defenders in closed institutions[2].