The European Court of Human Rights has awarded a Russian journalist 1,500 euros as compensation for being forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution.
“The ECHR found a violation of the right to liberty and security of one's person (Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and ordered the Russian government to pay compensation to Ruslan Makarov — 500 euros for non-financial damages and 1,000 euros for legal costs,” the victim's lawyer told the RIA Novosti news service.
Ruslan Makarov, a resident of Russia's Altai region, had been forced to undergo psychiatric evaluation in September 2012, after he had allegedly expressed a desire to kill the governor of the Altai region, Alexander Berdnikov.
Makarov, who spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital, claimed that his case was purely political and connected to his criticism of Berdnikov.
