Raisa Radchenko released

It appears that Raisa Radchenko is already home with her daughter and grandson.  If the media reports are correct, then the Health Ministry commission on Friday “confirmed” the initial diagnosis which led on 15 July to the 70-year-old civic activist being forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital.  Komentari reports the Chief Doctor of the Zaporizhya Regional Psychiatric Hospital who reported the original diagnosis as saying that the commission’s preliminary conclusions confirmed the diagnosis as well as the need for treatment.

“In particular, the commission established, firstly that treatment was timely; secondly that the treatment of the patient was adequate. All of this made it possible to considerably improve her state of health. Therefore the possibility is being considered of changing the form of treatment from hospital-based to outpatient.”

This incredibly efficient treatment is as difficult to find convincing as the initial diagnosis. 

Raisa Radchenko had never had any treatment in the past.  There are at least doubts regarding the motives of the three people who allegedly reported her disturbed behaviour.  Raisa Radchenko has long campaigned against corruption in the housing and communal services sphere and on other issues.  She recently launched a petition for the dismissal of the Mayor of Zaporizhya which was signed by over 11 thousand Zaporizhya residents.

The diagnosis, issued by psychiatrists without any brain scan or explanation as to their grounds, states that “she has a “personality and behaviour disorder – as the result of organic damage to the brain (cerebral arteriosclerosis, hypertonic illness); paranoid syndrome with aggressive actions”. 

There was considerable publicity over Ms Radchenko’s confinement against her will, the treatment of her daughter; the fact that her lawyer was not allowed to see her and more.  Amnesty International’s two urgent actions and an appeal in Ukrainian demanded an independent examination and for Raisa Radchenko to be released immediately.

It is excellent that Raisa Radchenko is back with her family, however the questions certainly remain.