Putin Protester Reportedly Ordered to Psychiatric Care

According to his lawyer

A Moscow court ordered a 38-year-old Russian who took part in a rally against President Vladimir Putin's 2012 return to power to undergo psychiatric care, according to his lawyer.

Mikhail Kosenko was consigned to indefinite treatment in a hospital after the court found he'd used violence against police officers, his lawyer Valery Shukhardin said today by phone. Kosenko was found to have a mental illness in a court-ordered evaluation and unable to recognize the danger he posed to the public during in a protest on May 6, 2012, against alleged fraud during the presidential election.

The rally, which took place a day before Putin's inauguration to a third term in office, was attended by 8,000 people, according to Moscow police. Estimates from organizers ranged from 20,000 to 100,000 people. Investigators opened cases into misconduct by more than two dozen people soon after the rally.