British gay rights activist arrested in Russia at World Cup
June 14, 2018
British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was arrested by Russian police at Red Square Thursday, as the World Cup was about to get underway.
Tatchell unfurled a poster with the words, "Putin fails to act against Chechnya torture of gay people," as part of a one-man protest.
Read more: Homophobia in Russia: 'I thought my daughter was a monster'
Police informed Tatchell: "During the World Cup it is forbidden to hold any action like this against Putin, against all these things."
Tatchell was told to stop or be detained.
It was not the first run-in Tatchell has had for his activities in Russia. He has been arrested twice previously and was severely beaten by right-wing protesters during a gay pride parade in 2007. He claims the beating left him brain damaged.
Tatchell was only briefly detained and returned to Red Square shortly after his release.
He wrote on social media that he had been given a court date on June 26, and had been charged with violating laws forbidding protests near the Kremlin and during the World Cup.
He declared that he was "glad to stand in solidarity with Russian & Chechen LGBTs."
No gays in Chechnya?
His reference to Chechnya is based on accounts that homosexuals in the conservative southern Russian republic are regularly arrested, tortured and in some cases killed.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has regularly dismissed the claims, saying they cannot be true because there are no gays in Chechnya.
In 2013, Russia passed a law forbidding the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" widely seen as a tool to stifle the country's gay rights movement.
Although Russian authorities have said gay and lesbian fans are welcome to attend the World Cup and should feel safe, some LGBT advocates have reported that they have received violent threats ahead of the event.
js/msh (AP, AFP)