Shield Update 2/19/2025

We have added contact information for individuals. Concerned individuals can now write. Scroll down to read under ‘Call to Action’

Shield Alert 1/21/2025

Free Artem: Sixteen-Year Old War Refugee Living in Denmark Institutionalized and Forcibly Drugged!

On 1/20/2025, a U.S. federal holiday dedicated to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., MindFreedom International received a letter (see copy of letter below highlighted in red) from a Ukrainian mother, Lara Shavkan, asking other Shield members to help her protect her son, Artem Shavkan, from psychiatric abuse. Lara and Artem are Ukrainian refugees living in Denmark. The psychiatric abuse is taking place  in Denmark, a nation that has ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) which expressly prohibits any forced psychiatric intervention.

Artem Shavkan is an enrolled member of MindFreedom’s Shield program. Artem was violently taken from his mother and he is currently being incarcerated in a facility called “Poseidon.” While there, he is being deprived of opportunities to pursue his education and he is subjected to solitary confinement. According to his mother, Artem’s visits with his mother are limited to fifteen minutes per month and he is currently being subjected to a powerful neuroleptic drug called ‘Abilify’ (aripiprazole)

Lara’s son has what she calls ‘autistic traits.’ At this writing MFI does not know if her son has has been given an official diagnosis.

Lara activated Artem’s Shield and asks for help protecting her son from forced, psychiatric drugging.

What appears below is an excerpt from letter written by Lara Shavkan to MindFreedom dated 1/20/25:

Dear representatives of Shield Alert of Mind Freedom International

I ask for assistance and help to save my child.

We are Ukrainian family, who escaped from the war in Ukraine to Denmark in March 2022.

My son Artem was violently taken away from home because of his autistic traits in March 2023.

He has been isolated without school, communication, internet and phone. He is physically punished by the staff of Bostedet Poseidon and punished with a hunger. As a result, he has strong convulsive ticks and stomach pain.

He can see his mother once a month for 15 minutes.

Poseidon for 8 times during 2 months pushed psychiatrists to prescribe the child antipsychotic medication. But psychiatrists refused, because the child doesn’t have relevant psychiatric illness.

Now he is sedated with Abilify so much, that he is in bed most of the time, but he is forbidden to tell his protest.

Authorities ignore his mother’s requirements. The child is 16 now, but he is not allowed to take part in a court as a party in his case, though he is normal intellectually and speaks English fluently.

In Ukraine before the war the child went to ordinary school, took part in international music competitions, had normal life and never took antipsychotic medicine.

Against of the background of poor health, poor nutrition and constant stress, 15 mg of Abilify kills the child.

I beg you to save my child.

 

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Call to Action

Call or write to the headmaster of Fonden Bostedet Poseidon

Headmaster Morten Glerup Maagaard –

Tel: +45 44101300email: morten@bostedetposeidon.dk

Poseidon, address: Asylgade 12, stuen, 7700 Thisted, Denmark.

 

2.  Psychiatry Department in Aalborg, chief physician Linda Hardisty Bramsen – email: psykiatri@rn.dk

 

3.   Alles Hurup hospital, pediatrician Per Tonny Schou – email: praksis@rn.dk

 

4.  Department of Social Affairs, director Erik Kaastrup Hansen –
email: erka@aarhus.dk and leader Anette Poulsen – email: anette.byr@aarhus.dk

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For the time being, some phone numbers are available but we do not know if voicemails in English will be understood by all of the recipients. If you do attempt to call, please note that the country code for Denmark is “45”.

At this writing, MFI does not know how to instruct Shield members from the USA, how to properly address the recipient (where the line spaces go in the recipient field)

When you call or write, consider these points:

According to his mother, Artem’s health has deteriorated significantly since being institutionalized and forcibly drugged with ‘Abilify’

The psychiatric abuse is taking place  in Denmark, a nation that has ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) which expressly prohibits any forced psychiatric intervention.

The dangers of Abilify (aripiprazole) are well documented. Psychiatric survivors who have experienced adverse reactions to this drug or who are withdrawing from it created a forum to give and receive mutual support HERE.

Denmark has accepted 40,000 Ukrainian war refugees to date. Ukrainian refugees must apply for a temporary residence permit to be eligible for live in Denmark  On the website of the United Nation’s Refugee Agency HERE, refugees are warned about exploitation involving human trafficking. They are not warned, however, about the dangers of exploitation through institutions which make money by incarcerating individuals with disabilities and subjecting them to harmful psychiatric drug ‘treatment’.

Refugees around the world are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Often, due to the rules of a host country, victims of abuse experience pressure not to alert the authorities when they are being threatened or harmed out of fear that their application for temporary residence will be denied by their host country. We do not know if this is the case with Lara but we do know that many refugees are afraid to ‘bite the hand that feeds them.’

Some studies such as this one HERE have linked refugees with higher incidents of ‘psychosis’. We can assume that studies showing a link between refugees and ‘psychosis’ will probably not make it more likely that refugees will receive, humane, trauma-informed alternatives to drugging. More likely, these studies will simply be used to justify mass, neuroleptic drugging of refugees. MFI is in solidarity with all  individuals with disabilities, including refugees who seek non-medicalized support to help them deal with past trauma.

At this writing, MindFreedom does not know if Lara’s son is alleged to have a ‘psychotic disorder’. or whether he is being drugged ‘off label’ for another alleged disorder. Most likely, the drugs are being used to sedate him and control him because he doesn’t like being subjected to solitary confinement and removed from the community and company of his family. We also don’t know if his current confinement is compounding earlier traumatic instances, such war-related separations from family members or friends, being exposed to bombing raids, or spending time in bomb shelters.

The movement for rights in the mental health system is a worldwide movement. Traumatized individuals, including war trauma survivors need humane, rights-based support such as housing, education, and legal assistance. It is legally possible in most Western European nations to subject people with disabilities and trauma victims to institutionalization and forced psychiatric interventions.

Please help Artern today by taking action.