76-year-old Novosibirsk heritage activist Natalya Shamina was tortured in a Moscow psychiatric hospital. This was reported by “Sibirsky Express,” citing the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments and Culture. Shamina heads its Novosibirsk branch.

“Shamina was tied to the bed and forcibly injected with medication. Police claimed that Shamina behaved violently during her detention, and doctors alleged she had attempted suicide by hunger strike. Dr Berezin concluded that Shamina needed to be hospitalised,” said Igor Kochetkov, deputy head of the Ryazan branch of the Society for the Protection of Monuments.

How Natalya Shamina ended up in the psychiatric hospital

On 24 July, Shamina held a solo protest in Stary Square in Moscow. She demanded that Vladimir Putin not sign the bill transferring the right to strip monuments of protected status to regional authorities. She was detained, but later released.

On 25 July, Shamina began a hunger strike at the monument to Cyril and Methodius in Moscow. She was detained again, brought to the “Kitay-gorod” police station, and then to Psychiatric Clinical Hospital No. 1.

Human rights defender Eva Merkacheva noted that volunteers were not allowed to bring Shamina any belongings or visit her. In addition, according to her colleagues, violence was used against the heritage activist. Later, Shamina was released.

What happened with the law the human rights defender was protesting against

Vladimir Putin did sign it on 27 July. Now, human rights defenders fear that cultural heritage sites will be demolished en masse in the interests of developers. Previously, only the Russian prime minister could remove monuments from the register, but now these powers have been handed over to regional authorities.