Alexander Podrabinek
| Alexander Pinkhosovich Podrabinek | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Александр Пинхосович Подрабинек |
| Born |
August 5, 1953 Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Citizenship |
 Soviet Union (1953–1991) →  Russian Federation (1991–present) |
| Alma mater | I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University |
| Occupation | physician, paramedic, human right activist, journalist, writer |
| Known for | human rights activism with participation in the Working Commission to Investigate the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes and struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, the founding of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia |
| Notable work | Punitive Medicine, Dissidents |
| Movement | dissident movement in the Soviet Union, Solidarnost |
| Spouse(s) | Alla |
| Children | son Mark |
| Awards | 2013 award of Znamya magazine, Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom |
Alexander Pinkhosovich Podrabinek (Russian: Алекса́ндр Пи́нхосович Подраби́нек; born August 8, 1953, Elektrostal) is a Russian journalist, human rights activist, editor-in-chief of Prima information agency and Ekspress-Khronika newspaper. He works at Radio France Internationale and Radio Liberty.
Alexander Podrabinek was born on 8 August 1953 in Elektrostal near Moscow. He enrolled in the Department of Pharmacology of a medical institute in 1970 and worked as an assistant in a biology laboratory at Moscow State University. From 1971 to 1974 he studied at school for medial assistants and received certification as a paramedic. He went on to work in the Moscow ambulance service.
In the Soviet Union era, Podrabinek was a Soviet dissident.
For political reasons, Podrabinek was denied entrance to medical school. At the age of 20 in 1971, he worked in the ambulance service. During this time, he became interested the political abuse of psychiatry after reading poet Vladimir Gershuni's memoir of his treatment in Oryol Special Psychiatric hospital. Podrabinek began to compile his own book, Punitive Medicine, in which he intended to examine such abuse in detail.
On 5 January 1977, Podraninek initiated creating the Working Commission to Investigate the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes. Members of the Commission visited psychiatric hospitals, wrote appeals to hospital doctors, and published information on psychiatric abuse in information bulletins.
In 1977, Podrabinek published his observations in the groundbreaking book Punitive Medicine. The KGB approached Podrabinek's family, threatening arrests of Alexander and his brother Kiril (who had criticized the treatment of conscripts in the Soviet army in a samizdat essay) if the family did not emigrate. Alexander held a press conference at the home of Andrei Sakharov, stating his refusal to submit to blackmail. On 15 August 1978, he was sentenced to five years of internal exile on charges of "anti-Soviet slander".
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