Hieromonk Iakov Vorontsov, a former Russian Orthodox priest who was defrocked in 2023 after publicly criticizing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had already spent more than three months in detention when he was transferred by Kazakhstan’s authorities to a psychiatric institution in Almaty last week.
Vorontsov was arrested in February on drug-related charges that he and his supporters have characterized as politically motivated. After his placement in pre-trial detention, the former priest’s beard was shaved, his hair cut short, and his Bible and prayer book were taken away.
He is now being forced to undergo a mandatory psychiatric evaluation while being held in the care of a mental institution, according to extracts of a court ruling published on May 21 by Radio Azattyq, RFE/RL’s Kazakh service. Under Kazakh law, the evaluation period may last up to one month, though it can be extended further.
The move, which was made against Vorontsov’s will, has been widely denounced by local human rights lawyers and advocacy groups, not least as it evokes one of the Soviet Union’s most infamous tools of political repression — punitive psychiatry.
But beyond the symbolism, Vorontsov’s legal representatives say the ruling itself was issued in violation of several fundamental due-process guarantees, including the right to mount a defense.
