The Russian teenager who sewed his mouth shut for a protest is diagnosed as mentally ill

Yesterday, a 16-year-old boy living in Kurgan sewed his mouth shut and went out to protest the jailing of the renown artist and activist Petr Pavlensky. The authorities have now diagnosed the boy with a mental illness, according to a spokesperson for the local police.

According to reports, the young man had applied for and received a permit to hold his one-man picket in support of Pavlensky, but his decision to sew his mouth shut (mimicking one of Pavlensky's own most controversial protests) prompted astonished passersby to call the police. The young man started to behave inappropriately, eyewitnesses say, when police officers approached and he was detained shortly thereafter.

The officers called emergency medical services, but paramedics refused to assist the young man when they arrived, explaining that only a dentist could undo the stitches binding his mouth shut. The teenager was then driven to a dentist, who was able to render the necessary medical aid.

The sixteen-year-old was then transferred to the custody of his mother, who brought him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mental illness.