MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. American citizen Joseph Tater’s hearing at the Moscow Meshchansky court, where a ruling will be made on his mental fitness following an altercation that started at a hotel and ended at the police station, will take place behind closed doors, a TASS correspondent reported from the court.
"The court has decided to consider Joseph Tater’s case behind closed doors," the judge said.
The prosecutor's office believes that the district court should rule to send Tater for compulsory treatment at a psychiatric facility. The defense believes this is illegal. The state prosecutor spoke in favor of holding the hearing behind closed doors, noting that the defendant’s medical records would be mentioned, which should remain confidential, as well as the testimony of the accused. The defense requested that only the part of the hearing concerning medical documents and victim's testimony be closed.
The TASS correspondent saw the American arriving at court with a police escort, as he was coming from court-ordered treatment at a psych ward. Tater's defense team, a medical worker, an English translator, his legal representative, and the victim also came.
Tater has two dependents in the United States, children born in 2009 and 2013. The case file says that Moscow doctors diagnosed him with a mental disorder. The American also underwent an inpatient forensic psychiatric examination at the V. P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center, where doctors confirmed the diagnosis.
On August 12, 2024, Tater arrived at the Radisson Hotel in Moscow, where he began to behave aggressively, causing a fracas with the staff, who refused to check him in without information about his previous place of residence in Moscow. According to the investigation, Tater provided this information, but it didn’t check out, and he wasn’t checked in.
Police were called and he was taken into custody. At the police station, he refused to provide documents proving his identity, and forcefully grabbed a female police officer’s arm. On August 14, the Moscow Meshchansky Court found him guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 1 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code (petty hooliganism), sentencing him to 15 days in jail. The next day, the Investigative Committee in Moscow opened a criminal case on the fact of his attack (Article 318 of the Criminal Code) on a police officer. The court sent Tater to a pre-trial detention facility. He pleaded not guilty.