Two arrested in Russia’s first LGBTQ extremism case
Two employees of an LGBTQ-inclusive nightclub in the Russian city of Orenburg have been arrested on suspicion of being members of an “extremist organisation”.
It is the first criminal case of its kind since Russia’s Supreme Court outlawed the so-called “international LGBT movement” last November.
If found guilty, the defendants face up to ten years in jail.
The art director of the club, Alexander Klimov, and administrator Diana Kamilyanova will remain in custody until 18 May when a closed-door court hearing will be held.
According to reporting by the BBC, the charges allege that the defendants “acted in premeditation with a group of people… who also support the views and activities of the international public association LGBT”.
Police raided the club, called Pose, in early March following a request from the local prosecutor.
They were reportedly accompanied by members from a local nationalist group called “Russian Community”.
A statement posted on the nationalist group’s site said that the items confiscated during the police raid at the club included a female stage costume, five female wigs, and fake female breasts.
The administrators of the site praised “Russian Community” members, saying they had “demonstrated a high level of training and organisation” in their “first successful raid”.
Police began raiding gay clubs across Russia soon after the Supreme Court’s decision last year but these appear to have been the first arrests made under the new laws.
Ksenia Mikhailova, a lawyer for Russian LGBT group “Coming Out”, said the Orenburg case indicates that authorities are now treating instances of so-called LGBT propaganda as a criminal rather than an administrative offence. The case is likely to set a precedent for the application of the anti-LGBTQ laws across Russia.