Man accused of running an LGBTQ+ travel agency dies in Russian police custody
Andrei Kotov has died in custody (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian man, charged with running an LGBTQ+ travel agency, has been found dead in his cell, rights groups and Russia state media have reported.
Andrei Kotov, the director of the Men Travel agency, was arrested in November and charged with taking part in and organising “extremist” activities, in the wake of Russia’s Supreme Court designating “the international LGBT movement” as extremist.
According to OVD-Info, a human rights group focused on ending political persecution in Russia, Kotov’s lawyer Leysan Mannapova was told her client had taken his own life at the Moscow detention centre in the early hours of Sunday morning (29 December).
Writing on X/Twitter, an OVD-Info spokesperson said: “The investigative committee has begun an investigation into the death of travel agency director Andrei Kotov, accused of organising trips for LGBTQ people. According to some reports, cuts were found on his body.”
When arrested at his apartment, Kotov told the police that he organised trips for tourists, but an officer allegedly replied: “No, that’s not right: for gays.”
In court, Kotov claimed he was beaten by officers and subjected to electric shocks to force him to confess.
“Despite the fact that I am a psychotherapist by training, I still find it difficult to answer to what degree of post-traumatic stress disorder I suffered and why all these procedures were required,” he said.
Investigators claimed Kotov created “an extremist community in which propaganda of the ideology of an association recognised as an extremist organisation and banned by the court in the territory of the Russian Federation was carried out”, adding: “The defendant and active participants, who supported the views and activities of the extremist organisation through trips, public events and the publication of images on the internet, formed a false impression among citizens about the institution of marriage enshrined in the constitution of the Russian Federation, and carried out actions aimed at undermining traditional family values.”
In recent months, the crackdown on LGBTQ+ identities in Russia has led to bar workers and venue owners being jailed, more than 50 club-goers being detained, language-learning app Duolingo forced to remove queer content, children’s cartoon My Little Pony labelled 18+ and a gay student expelled from university for posting make-up videos.
In November, a number of club-goers in Moscow were charged after raids by Russian security forces “as part of measures to combat LGBT propaganda”, according to the state-owned Tass news agency.
The press service for the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow said seven people were found guilty of petty hooliganism, disrupting public order and engaging in “disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place.”
Russia’s government has taken steps in recent years to legislate LGBTQ+ people out of public life, including bans on gender-affirming care, same-sex marriage and adoption.
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