Executive Summary

The political abuse of psychiatric institutions to suppress dissent is an old phenomenon now experiencing a resurgence in countries with authoritarian governments. The practice reportedly has grown in Russia since the beginning of the Ukraine war, with the targeting of critics and activists. China continues to use psychiatric detention against internal dissidents. In some countries, the legal framework for forced psychiatric hospitalisations has loopholes that allow for arbitrary institutionalisation and complicate efforts to stop this practice. Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Thailand also have histories with episodes of dissident repression through psychiatric institutionalisation.  

Images Sourced From: Russia Beyond