Owner of Siberian gay club charged with ‘extremism’ and placed under house arrest
Ongoing anti-LGBT crackdown follows 2023 ruling that LGBT groups are ‘extremist’
Russia continues the repression of its LGBTQ citizens with the arrest last month of the owner of a gay club in the Siberian city of Chita in the Zabaikalsky region.
Novaya Gazeta Europe reported:
Owner of Siberian gay club charged with ‘extremism’ and placed under house arrest
An unnamed 22-year-old woman who owns a gay club that was raided by police in the Siberian city of Chita has been placed under house arrest after being charged with extremism and now faces up to 10 years behind bars, regional media outlet Chita.ru reported [late last month].
According to far-right Russian blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov, police raided the club in Chita where, he claimed, trans people “held orgies”. Pozdnyakov, who used to head the banned nationalist group Male State, posted videos of the raid online, in which police can be seen forcing club patrons and drag performers to lie down on the floor where they interrogated them.
The nightclub, Jackson, was a private establishment with a strict door policy that was only open to visitors who had called in advance, sources told Chita.ru.
While Pozdnyakov claimed that “all visitors” to the club had been detained and were facing criminal prosecution for “participating in an extremist community”, his claim has not been verified by other sources. The date of the raid is still unknown, and it’s unclear whether any other patrons were charged, as no police statement has yet been issued.
The crackdown on LGBT activists and queer venues in Russia intensified following a Russian Supreme Court ruling in November 2023 that branded the “international LGBT movement” an “extremist organisation”, effectively making any pro-LGBT activity in Russia a crime.
In March, managers of another gay club in southwestern Russia’s Orenburg region were charged with “organising activities for an extremist organisation” following a police raid on their establishment.
Two well-established Moscow gay clubs, Central Station and Three Monkeys, were also raided earlier this month, with over 50 people detained in total, though no criminal charges were subsequently announced.
