Andrei Kotov, 40, ran a travel agency for LGBT people. He was indicted last month for “extremist activities” as part of the country’s repressive homophobic crackdown.
A victim of the growing repression against sexual minorities in Russia. A man arrested for organizing trips for LGBT+ people was found dead in pre-trial detention, a rights group and Russian state media reported this Sunday, December 29.
Andrei Kotov, a 40-year-old Russian director of the Men Travel travel agency, was indicted last month for “extremist activities”, while the Russian Supreme Court banned at the end of 2023 what it describes as “international LGBT movement”, paving the way for the possibility of legal action against those accused of adhering to it.
According to the human rights NGO OVD-Info, which cites Andreï Kotov’s lawyer, investigators affirmed that the latter committed suicide this Sunday at dawn, during his pre-trial detention. According to the same organization, Andreï Kotov said he was beaten during his arrest last month.
Anti-LGBT+ legislative arsenal
Russia has increased repressive laws against LGBT people in recent years, seeing in this ultraconservative line a continuation of their fight against the West, whose values and way of life are described as “decadent” by President Vladimir Putin. In March, the owner and two managers of an LGBT bar were jailed for “extremism”, in what was then the first procedure using the anti-LGBT + legislative arsenal deployed in recent years by the power in place.
Since 2013, a law in Russia has prohibited the “propaganda” of “non-traditional sexual relations” aimed at minors. In the wake of a general turn of the screw in society after the Russian assault on Ukraine, this legislation was considerably expanded at the end of 2022 to prohibit all forms of “propaganda” LGBT+ in the media, on the internet, in books and films, before the Russian Supreme Court opened the door to heavy prison sentences.
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