A U.S. citizen awaiting trial in Moscow has been forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital, according to Russian state media reports on April 6.
Joseph Tater, 46, was arrested in August 2024 after being accused of assaulting a police officer during an altercation with hotel staff in a luxury hotel in the Russian capital. Following a medical evaluation on March 15, a Moscow court approved Tater's involuntary admission to the psychiatric hospital.
Doctors described Tater as showing signs of "tension, impulsivity, persecutory delusions, and lack of self-awareness regarding his condition," leading to the court's decision to have him hospitalized.
Tater was originally scheduled to stand trial on April 14 on charges of assaulting a police officer, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, according to the Associated Press.
Tater's detention for medical reasons follows his release from pre-trial detention in late March, though it is unclear when the court made the decision to hospitalize him. At a court hearing in September, Tater claimed he had come to Russia seeking political asylum, alleging that he was being persecuted by the CIA.
His defense lawyer has appealed the decision to forcibly hospitalize him, accusing Russian authorities of attempting to "isolate the defendant from society," according to Russian state media.
Human rights organizations have long criticized Russia for using psychiatric institutions to detain individuals with political views opposed to the government, a practice that dates back to Soviet times.
These groups claim that the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin has increasingly resorted to this tactic in recent years. Tater had already served 15 days in jail for the same incident after being found guilty of administrative charges for "petty hooliganism."
Tater’s case adds to the growing list of Americans detained in Russia on drug or assault-related charges, many of whom are serving lengthy prison sentences. Other Americans, such as Robert Gilman, 72, who was sentenced to 3.5 years for assaulting a police officer after a drunken disturbance, and Travis Leake, a musician sentenced to 13 years for drug charges in July 2024, have faced similar fates in Russia's legal system.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
