Russia failing to prevent homophobic violence, says Human Rights Watch

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/15/russia-failing-prevent-homophobic-gay-violence

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Gay people in Russia are being subjected to increasing amounts of harassment and violence in their everyday lives, according to a report suggesting that intolerance has risen since a controversial law banning “homosexual propaganda” was passed last year.

“The law effectively legalised discrimination against LGBT people and cast them as second-class citizens,” wrote Human Rights Watch in the report, published on Monday. “Russian authorities have failed in their obligation to prevent and prosecute homophobic violence.”

The report focused on the victims of vigilante groups that have sprung up recently, who often lure gay men into online traps and then film their humiliation.

“They forced me to stand in the middle of the circle they formed around me. They asked me questions about my sex life and sexual preferences, and then they forced me to yell that I was a paedophile and gay,” said one man quoted in the report, who asked to protect his identity.

“They called themselves ‘Athletes against Paedophiles’ and told me: ‘We will catch all of you and we will teach you how to live.’ It was around 5pm, so there were a lot of people in the shopping mall, shopping and dining. But no one stopped them, no one interfered.”

The report also documented violent incidents, many of which were not reported to police out of fear.

One of the main problems is that Russian authorities remain reluctant to classify homophobic attacks as hate crimes. Although Russia does have laws on hate crimes, they tend to be used for more political purposes, such as the sentences handed down to the Pussy Riot group, who were accused of hooliganism motivated by hatred of a religious group for dancing in a church.

When anti-gay attacks take place, however, the authorities tend not to consider them as motivated by hatred, instead qualifying them as hooliganism or assault.

“Violence experienced by LGBT people in Russia is unmistakably motivated by homophobia, but the authorities deliberately ignore that these are hate crimes and fail to protect victims,” said Tanya Cooper, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Authorities should effectively prosecute homophobic violence, and the authorities should stop engaging in and tolerating anti-LGBT discrimination.”

The release of the report came as one of the country’s most notorious anti-gay crusaders, the St Petersburg politician Vitaly Milonov, again made headlines as he spearheaded a raid of a gay club over the weekend.

Milonov arrived at the venue, which was hosting a fetish party, with a squad of riot police, barged in and began checking the documents of all those present, according to local news reports.

“We found around 20 teenagers there who were practically having sex on the stage,” Milonov told a local news agency. He said the nightclub was full of “perverts and paedophiles” and called for it to be shut down. Despite the fact that Milonov appeared to be commanding a group of police in raiding the club, the party continued after they left.