The death of the prison highlights Russia’s LGBTQ campaign

The travel agency offered tours only targeting men, and that was sufficient to attract the police attention to impose new Russian laws that restrict gay rights.

One night in December, the officers stormed and tied the owner of the agency.

The owner Andre Kotov said: “Fifteen people came to my place at night.” “They were hitting me in the face, kicking me and leaving bruises.” His comments were reported by the Russian media and confirmed by his lawyer.

Mr. Kotov said that the officers pressed him to “admit” that he runs a travel agency aimed at gay, which he denied. He said that the officers continued to strike him, and he said to him: “There are no trips for gay.”

A few weeks later, 48 -year -old Mr. Kotov was found dead in his cell in prison. His lawyer, Lesman Manabova, said that prison officials told his mother that he had cut himself with a haircut. The conditions of his death cannot be determined independently, and Russian officials did not respond to the request for comment.

The death of Mr. Kotov reflects an increasingly harsh campaign in Russia on the rights of gay people who have accelerated since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Pictures of President Vladimir F. Putin new restrictions – and war – as part of a broader battle to maintain “Russian traditional values”.

In November 2023, Russian Supreme Court specific The international “LGBTQ Movement” as an “extremist organization” equally with the likes of al -Qaeda or the Islamic State. Under the laws targeting extremist groups, gay rights activists, lawyers, or other participants in efforts to support gay people. Prison camel from six to 10 years.

This has led to a wave of repression against gay people and groups, as the police manage gay night clubs and investigators targeting the ordinary Russians, according to community members and Collections Like Human Rights Watch.

At least 12 criminal investigations on LGBTQ extremism were started last year, according to OVD-info Group in the field of Russian prisoners’ rights.

Dennis Olinic, Executive Director of Exit, who helps homosexuals in Russia, said that the pressure of the authorities initially focused on rights and activists.

He said: “Now, the campaign continues with the ordinary people, clubs and parties – it affected the society that would have previously distanced the call to rights.”

Homosexuality was criminalized in Russia in 1993, inspiring a vibrant gay scene that included celebrities publicly talking about their sexual lives and the creation of gay clubs. thirdAnd a group of pop that demonstrated a female member as a gay couple, kissing between songs, chosen by state television to represent Russia in international competitions.

But in 2013, Mr. Putin Salvo opened against homosexuals when a draft law prohibits the publication of what he described as “gay propaganda” – which includes a substance that makes “unconventional relations attractive” – ​​for minors. In 2022, Russia has provided fines to enhance “gay advertising”.

Then came the court ruling 2023, which led to the current campaign.

After Mr. Kotov, the travel agent, was arrested, and he was charged with producing pictures of sexual assault on children, but his lawyer was unable to review the case of the case on this charge.

During the hearing he spent in December, he told the court investigator, without providing more details, that the photos on the phone of Mr. Kotov proved that he committed a crime “aimed at the constitutional system and state security.”

A few weeks later, Mr. Kotov had died.

Mrs. Manabova, his lawyer, said that the psychological evaluation of Mr. Kotov did not show any suicide tendencies.

His lawyer said that the mother of Mr. Kotov had asked the public prosecutors to move forward in his case after his death so that he could be cleared of allegations against him.

“It was not quite clear to him how men’s arrangement could be considered the creation of an extremist group.”

The night that followed the Supreme Court has the LGBTQ movement in 2023, Sergey Artumov, a 36 -year -old gay man from Moscow, said that he and his friends were targeting a police raid in a nightclub in Moscow. He said that the officers prevented the exits, and made the beneficiaries stand on the wall and then wrote the details of the identity.

No one was arrested, but Mr. Artumov, who used to work as a TV producer, said that the experience was shook him. He said he was already thinking of leaving Russia because he wanted to live as a gay man publicly, and that the raid has strengthened his determination.

He said, “I knew things would get worse.” “There is no longer a gray area. They call you an enemy of people, and that’s all.”

He left before Christmas directly to Spain, where he said he was granted asylum.

The Kremlin’s gay warranty campaign has been crossed by Vigilante groups as well as local officials and government media.

In the city of Yakutia, in the remote East Siberia, Priyati Yakutsk, a famous media channel in a telegram, sparked a warning during the holidays about “immorality and corruption for men who occur under the nose of law enforcement and Yakutsk officials.”

Two loved ones were published from a nightclub party depicting what they seem to be naked women, one of them on a naked man. The letter said on Telegram that the party appeared in the “Diverse Performance Artists” from Thailand.

Later, a court fined the club of 250,000 rubles, or about 2800 dollars, for violating the general matter because its pastors were “in a state of removing his clothes that insult human dignity and enhance unconventional sexual relations.”

Russian societyA national group describing itself as a social guard, also published pictures and videos of the police raids. Last year, the group to publish video raid On the LGBTQ Licer in Ornburg, many young people lying on the ground showed their faces down, and they are arrested.

A Criminal case He was later brought against the club owner, director and director of arts, who are still waiting for the trial.

The government media was also bombing the Russians with messages about the virtues of families of two different sexes with children. Earlier this year, Mr. Putin released to request In order for his government to face a strategy to strengthen families that have many children.

Since the Kremlin presented the first gay fighter bill in 2013, the number of Russians who believe that gay people should not enjoy the same rights. more From 47 to 62 percent, according to independent surveys La Vada.

Russian youth are still more acceptable for people of LGBTQ than the elderly, opinion Opinion polls appear, but I have also heard continuous condemnation in the media over the past year.

“It is a torrent of gay and transit hatred that continues to flow from all media will have consequences,” said Tatyana Vinnichenko, veteran LGBTQ who lives in exile in Lithuania.

The transit society was a special goal for the authorities, with the adoption of a law In 2023, transient health care and change of gender identifiers in official documents were banned.

Activists say the last round of repression has motivated a silent migration of gay and transformed from Russia.

But Taher, a 25 -year -old gay man asked to block his family’s name for fear of criminal prosecution, has no intention to leave.

He said, “I definitely know that things will get worse.” “But I do not want to leave. This country is for me as much as it is for others.”