• A defender was arrested by police, without a warrant, and taken to a police station where he was subsequently detained. The following day, he was found dead in his cell, having allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with his shirt. The preliminary results of a post mortem examination revealed that he had died as a result of asphyxiation. However, it was also reported that there were wounds on his body and that he showed signs of having been brutally beaten. He was reportedly arrested for his alleged involvement in persuading high-ranking localgovernment officials to move to the opposition. He had also participated in a hunger strike along with 50 to 80 other individuals calling for constitutional reforms.34 Abduction • The head of a human rights NGO and three journalists were abducted by unidentified masked men pretending to be anti-terrorism officers at the hotel where they were staying prior to a demonstration they planned to cover. They were first beaten by their captors and then detained for several hours by police after filing a complaint.35 Ill-treatment in custody • A journalist and member of an opposition movement was arrested while undergoing a medical examination and was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she was allegedly beaten, injected with drugs, and tied to a bed. Two weeks after her arrest, the local district court ordered compulsory treatment for her, after which she was placed in a wing for violent patients. Her arrest followed her publication of an article about the ill-treatment of children in psychiatric hospitals. She was released a month later.36 Deterioration of health due to detention conditions • A freelance journalist who wrote articles about government corruption was kept in a psychiatric hospital for a year and a half. While there, he smuggled a note to his 34 Case of Bektemir Akunov (Kyrgyzstan), “Report submitted by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, Addendum, Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received”, Human Rights Council, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/7/28/Add.1, 3 March 2008, para. 1268. 35 Case of Oleg Orlov, Artem Vysotskii, Karen Sakhinov, and Stanislav Goriachikh (Russian Federation), “Urgent appeal: Human rights activist and journalists beaten in Ingushetia”, Observatory FIDH/OMCT, 28 November 2007; “Human Rights Activist and Journalist beaten in Ingushetia”, Amnesty International, 24 November 2007; “Choking on bureaucracy: state curbs on independent civil society activism”, Human Rights Watch, February 2008; Human Rights Council, op. cit., para. 1709, for the government’s response, see para. 1712. The government of the Russian Federation informed the ODIHR that a criminal investigation is ongoing. 36 Case of Larissa Arap (Russian Federation), “Ongoing arbitrary detention in a psychiatric hospital of Ms. Larissa Arap”, Observatory FIDH/OMCT, 14 August 2007; Human Rights Council, op. cit., note 34, para. 1684, for the government’s response, see para. 1686. The government of the Russian Federation informed the ODIHR that Ms. Arap was treated in a psychiatric hospital twice in 2007 after being examined by qualified psychiatrists and subsequent to two court decisions on involuntary treatment. She was released from hospital in August 2007. It was also noted by the government of the Russian Federation that the relevant prosecutor’s office examined the circumstances of Ms. Arap’s hospitalization and did not find any violations with respect to the hospitalization procedure. 12