According to state media, a 46-year-old individual was detained in Moscow for purportedly attacking a police officer and has since been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Joseph Tater, aged 46, was taken into custody in Moscow in August 2024 on allegations of assaulting a police officer after inciting disturbance at a hotel. If found guilty, he may face up to five years of imprisonment.

A medical evaluation concluded on March 15th by a team of doctors from Moscow’s Alexeyeva psychiatric hospital determined that Tater exhibits signs of “tension, impulsiveness, delusional ideas and attitudes,” including feelings of “persecution” and a lack of critical perspective on his own condition.

A Moscow court has sanctioned doctors’ request to admit Tater to the psychiatric hospital for inpatient treatment due to his mental state, as reported by state-owned TASS news agency, without specifying the date of the court’s decision.

Tater’s trial is slated to commence on April 14th. TASS indicates that his case may be dropped if the Meshchansky District Court accepts the findings of the psychiatric assessment, possibly resulting in court-ordered treatment rather than a trial.

The US citizen has been placed under inpatient psychiatric assessment at Moscow’s Serbsky Centre as part of the investigation into his case. This center has a history of providing false psychiatric diagnoses to political dissenters during the Soviet era.

Tater’s attorney has filed an appeal against his hospitalization, alleging that Russia intends to “segregate the defendant from society by placing him in a psychiatric hospital.”

The defense lawyer also claims that Tater came to Russia seeking political asylum to escape persecution by US authorities.

Prisoner Exchanges

Russian authorities have arrested various US citizens in recent years on charges ranging from espionage and military criticism to minor theft and family conflicts.

Russia released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan last year as part of a large-scale prisoner exchange with the US and other Western countries.

Sixteen individuals were released from Russian custody, including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners.

In 2022, basketball player Brittney Griner was freed from a Russian prison following a prisoner swap that involved the release of Viktor Bout, a convicted arms dealer serving a 25-year term in the US.

Griner had been arrested at a Russian airport earlier that year and later pleaded guilty to charges related to the discovery of cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage.

She received a nine-year prison sentence for possessing and smuggling drugs, maintaining that it was an “honest mistake” and not her intention to violate the law.