Not GP, but I can elaborate a bit. It was common Soviet practice in the post-Stalin era to, instead of explicitly arresting political dissidents, to classify th

Not GP, but I can elaborate a bit. It was common Soviet practice in the post-Stalin era to, instead of explicitly arresting political dissidents, to classify them as insane and have them involuntarily committed. Looks less bad than calling it a jail. I haven't heard of this practice being continued in post-communist Russia, but I wouldn't be enormously surprised to hear that it was.