Police raided the home of Nikolia Alexeyev, considered Russia’s most outspoken gay rights activist, after a lawmaker lodged a complaint against him.
According to Reuters, Alexeyev’s home was ransacked by Russian prosecutors. Alexeyev said that the officials removed several pieces of electronic equipment.
“Do you think this is all legal?” he told reporters pointing to the debris left behind from the raid. “What if they now start raiding flats every day, for instance? Storm the apartment. Throw everything out. Pick everything up. And who will now clean all this?” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)
Officials confirmed to Reuters that the complaint came from a lawmaker who is opposed to gay rights.
(Related: Michael Lucas op-ed angers Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev.)
In June, Russia approved a law which prohibits the public promotion of “gay propaganda” to minors. Passage has provoked worldwide outrage and calls to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi.
Gay Star News reported that some landlords are encouraging people to aid the police in locating violators.
“Please remember that homosexuals can be dressed quite simply,” a notice posted in a building in Rostov-on-Don reads, according to a translation provided by O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. “He looks like you, he can be nice to talk to, and you can even know him.”
“Remember that homosexuals do not know the age limit and a person who does gay propaganda can be [a] person who just graduated from school or an old man.”
“You can easily become a target of homosexual propaganda. There is one step from being homosexual and to start propaganda of homosexualism and molesting decent people.”
Human rights activist Melanie Nathan said that the notice was an example of how Russia’s laws were emboldening people to discriminate against gays.
“This notice posted by the administrator of a building illustrates that the so-called ‘anti-propaganda’ laws have led to widespread persecution of gays,” she said.
by On Top Magazine Staff
Source – On Top Magazine
