Alexander Klimov and Diana Kamilyanova, respectively artistic director and administrator of an LGBTQ+ club in the city of Orenburg, in southwestern Russia, were arrested on charges of being members of an “extremist organisation”. If found guilty they risk up to ten years in prison.
These are the first arrests for this crime since, in November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court banned all activities of what it defined as an “international LGBT public movement”, a very vague definition which in reality does not indicate any specific organisation. At the beginning of February two people had been convicted on the basis of this rule, but only with administrative sanctions.
The arrests of Klimov and Kamilyanova follow a search carried out by the police at the beginning of March in the place where they worked, Pose. The officers were accompanied by some members of a local nationalist group called “Russian Community”, who in a post published on Facebook said they had found various objects considered suspicious including five female wigs and a female stage costume.
The court said that the two Pose employees “acted in a premeditated manner with a group of people […] who also support the opinions and activities of the international public LGBT association”. Klimov and Kamilyanova will remain in pre-trial detention in prison until at least May 18.
The Supreme Court’s decision to effectively ban LGBTQ+ activism was the most drastic measure taken by Russia against the demands for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, intersexual, asexual and non-identifying people. traditionally understood gender roles. In the past, the Russian government had used the definition of an extremist movement as a tool to speciously prosecute human rights organizations, independent media and political opponents.
– Read also: Russia has made LGBTQ+ activism illegal