Two employees of an unofficial gay club in Russia have been sent to pretrial detention for two months on a charge of creating an extremist group. Local media identified the employees ordered detained by a court in the southwestern city of Orenburg on March 20 as Diana Kamilyanova and Aleksandr Klimov of the Pose bar. Police raided the bar on March 9, after which a pro-government group published the raid's materials, revealing that the bar's clientele was mainly gay. In November, Russia's Supreme Court ruled that LGBT activists should be designated as extremists. Convictions on extremism charges may lead to imprisonment for up to 10 years. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.
Editors' Picks
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.
To find out more, click here.