On harassment and transfer for the psychiatric evaluation

Today I visited Sasha in the detention center. She says hello to everyone. She got to see the photos from the St Petersburg City Court and she was delighted that so many people had come to support her. Sasha is very happy to get your letters, especially the paper ones, and she promises to reply to everyone. Unfortunately, now she is physically unable to write back to everyone in time. Sasha has stomachaches, shortness of breath, acute heartaches as well as aches in her left arm. She is experiencing these symptoms especially strongly upon waking up and after eating the meals provided by the detention center.

Sasha experienced psychological pressure and sexualized aggression from one of the detention center employees. At our last meeting, I was able to find out this woman’s last name, after which Sasha filed a complaint addressed to the head of the detention center. On today’s morning, the complaint was taken into consideration, and the employee had a talk with the employee was conducted. After this, according to Sasha, her behavior was correct. We really hope that this will not happen again, otherwise the incident will be covered in a different, more detailed manner.

Before Sasha filed her complaint, this employee conducted a thorough search of her papers. Among them, she found a sheet on which Sasha, on May 12, in the presence of the investigator and with his consent, had copied the information from the “price tags” that are considered hard evidence in her criminal case. Apparently, the employee decided that it was a crime, and took the sheet to the police officers, meanwhile locking Sasha up in a stakan. [Stakan (“a drinking glass”) is a solid metal isolation box that is roughly 65 cm, or 25.5″, deep and 50 cm, or 19.6″, wide with one seat inside.] Most likely, the officers explained to her the ridiculousness of her actions, but because of them, Sasha missed her dinner. On the same day, Sasha also had to go without lunch because it took too long to be brought out, and when it finally came Sasha was called to a meeting with me.

On June 8, we expect Sasha to be sent to the psychiatric hospital No. 6 for a forensic psychiatric evaluation as part of the investigation of her criminal case. There, she won’t be able to answer the letters sent to her through the FPS-letter online service. At the moment, we are checking whether any other communication with her will be possible. So please check our updates, and thank you all so much for your support!

06/06/2022

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