A Siberian human rights activist has been committed to a psychiatric hospital for a 30-day examination, in an echo of Soviet-era practices, a colleague said on Friday.
Alexei Manannikov, director of the Vienna-89 human rights group in Novosibirsk, is facing up to two years in prison after being accused of slandering a judge last year.
He called her names on his LiveJournal blog in October, after she refused to consider his appeal against charges of insulting a police officer last year.
The court ruled that Manannikov's mental health be examined. Mannikov went on hunger strike, saying the reasons for the examination were trumped-up.
Manannikov served a three-year sentence for "anti-Sovietism" in the Soviet times and represented Novosibirsk in Russia's upper house of parliament between 1993 and 1995.
NOVOSIBIRSK, December 24 (RIA Novosti)
