Russian nightclub owner and workers jailed amid worsening anti-LGBTQIA+ crackdown
Three people have been handed sentences ranging from two to seven years for their support of the so-called "international LGBT movement"
The owner and two workers of a nightclub have been handed lengthy prison sentences amid the country's worsening anti-LGBTQIA+ crackdown.
As reported by Mediazona, the Central District Court of Orenburg confirmed on Monday (June 30) that the three defendants were found guilty of aiding and participating in the activities of an "extremist organisation" following a raid on the Pose nightclub in Orenburg, Oblast, in 2024.
The organisation was the so-called "international LGBT movement", a non-existent entity designated as an "extremist" group in November 2023 by the Supreme Court of Russia, which Amnesty claims is in order to "arbitrarily target LGBTQIA+ people and those who associate with them". All three pleaded not guilty.
Owner Vyacheslav Khasanov was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 1 million rubles (£9,559). The club's manager Diana Kamilyanova was sentenced to six years and three months, and art director Alexander Klimov was sentenced to two years and three months.
The nightclub, which had reportedly held 'parody' drag events, was raided in March 2024 by local police forces. The National Guard and the "Russian Community of Orenburg" - an ultra-conservative group that launched an online campaign against Pose and other 'suspected' local LGBTQIA+ venues, claimed to be "concerned citizens" troubled by the club’s "LGBT theme".
According to Mediazona, witnesses claim that attendees and staff were "kicked" and attacked with "stun guns" during the raid, with a video later shared online by the Russian Community of Orenburg featuring drag performers who had been forced to give their names and home addresses on camera.
Khasanov, Kamilyanova and Klimov were later arrested, with the court claiming that Pose hosted events "united by the common theme of demonstrating belonging to persons of non-traditional sexual orientation for an indefinite circle of persons."
Earlier this year, another Russian nightclub owner was found guilty under similar circumstances. 23-year-old Tatiana Zorina was sentenced to four years in a penal colony by the Ingodinsky District Court of Chita, Eastern Siberia, following an investigation claiming that her venue was being used to organise a "cell of an extremist group".
According to Mediazona, Zorina's sentence has now been raised to six years and two months, with the court using six corsets, hip pads and a false breast as evidence against her.
[Via: Mediazona]
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