Russia jails nightclub owner and staff in first LGBT extremism case

A court in Orenburg jailed the owner and two employees of the Pose nightclub, handing down Russia’s first criminal convictions under the ban on what authorities call the “international LGBT movement.” Vyacheslav Khasanov received seven years in a penal colony and a fine, while manager Diana Kamilyanova was sentenced to six years and three months and art director Alexander Klimov to two years and three months.

The Central District Court of Orenburg ruled that the three had organized and participated in the activities of an extremist organization after police raided the club two years earlier. All three denied guilt.

Human Rights Watch warned at the time that the Supreme Court’s November 2023 designation of the “international LGBT movement” as extremist jeopardized all forms of LGBT rights activism in Russia. The United Nations human rights office said people who work with, or even engage with, LGBT organizations could face criminal risk, while Amnesty International said the decision would have catastrophic consequences for LGBTI people and their supporters.

President Vladimir Putin has long cast LGBT rights as a Western import incompatible with the Kremlin’s version of traditional values, rooted in family, nation and Orthodox Christianity. Media outlets, book publishers, streaming services and film distribution platforms have faced fines and questioning over LGBT-related content.

Pose had operated since 2021 and later tried to rebrand itself as a parody bar theatre as restrictions tightened.