Russia sentences nightclub owner and staff to jail under ‘LGBT movement’ ban
Vladimir Putin (Image: Getty Images)
A Russian court has jailed the owner and two employees of an LGBT nightclub in Orenburg after convicting them of organising and participating in the activities of an “extremist organisation”. Authorities claim it is the first prosecution under the country’s ban on the so-called “LGBT movement”.
Vyacheslav Khasanov, 37, the owner of the Pose club, was sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million roubles (£9,745/$12,902), as per The Independent. Two other staff members who were arrested were also convicted. Club manager Diana Kamilyanova, 30, was sentenced to six years and three months, and art director Alexander Klimov, 23, was handed a sentence of two years and three months. All three defendants denied guilt.
Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “LGBT movement” as extremist in 2023, a move that has enabled serious criminal cases against LGBTQ+ people and their advocates.
Raid on the Pose club
The arrests followed a police raid on the Pose club in the southwestern city of Orenburg two years before the court announcement. The venue had been in operation since 2021 and often hosted drag parties, later marketing itself as a “parody bar theatre” as restrictions mounted.
In March 2024, Orenburg regional authorities and Russia’s National Guard raided the club. Footage shared online by a far-right group saw patrons standing with their hands raised as masked members swarmed through the venue’s neon-lit rooms, while other people lay on the floor with their hands crossed above their heads.
Court’s reasoning and wider crackdown
The court said the defendants had “under the guise of running a nightclub, organised events centred on ‘the common theme of demonstrating affiliation with people of non-traditional sexual orientation for an unspecific group of the venue’s patrons’”.
During the same broader crackdown, staff members of a Russian book publisher were questioned by authorities in April for possible “LGBT propaganda” in its book catalogue.
Russian LGBT rights lawyers have said the Orenburg case could serve as a precedent for future prosecutions and destroy “safe havens” for LGBT people in Russia.
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