According to Russian court documents and local press sources, a dozen clubgoers in Moscow were arrested and convicted guilty of petty hooliganism after Russian security agents conducted anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” operations.
According to a statement provided to Tass, a Russian news agency, government sources said the group was arrested at three nightclubs in the Russian capital, Arma, Inferno, and Mono, on Saturday night and early Sunday.
In two announcements announcing the guilty convictions, a Moscow court stated that these persons had committed an administrative infraction that was manifested in a public setting using profane language and a clear disregard for society.
The raids were carried out precisely one year after the Russian Supreme Court declared that the LGBTQ movement and its activists should be classified as extremists. Russians convicted of extremism face a maximum 12-year prison sentence.
As police officers combed through the crowds and yelled commands, astonished clubgoers were shown lying on dance floors with their hands above their heads in videos and pictures of the raids that were circulated on social media over the weekend.
At Arma, police barricaded club entrances and questioned club patrons before arresting many, according to Baza, an anonymous Telegram news channel with over 1.5 million followers. About three hours after the start of the operation, club members who were not arrested were let to depart Arma, Baza said. (The 2022 nearly nude party in Arma, then known as Mutabor, garnered harsh condemnation because Russian socialites, influencers, and celebrities showed up wearing skimpy attire months after the invasion of Ukraine.)
The Russian government has already orchestrated a crackdown on LGBT promotion, including Monday. Police raided homosexual pubs in Russian cities shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision last year. Since then, there have apparently been sporadic raids all around the nation.
The Supreme Court’s decision last year was seen by some as a component of a larger crackdown on LGBTQ rights in Russia, spearheaded by President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled the country for around 25 years. Notably, the Russian government enacted the “gay propaganda law” in 2013, which forbade the dissemination of information to children on unorthodox sexual activity. The rule was broadened to include adults, thereby outlawing atypical sexual gestures or signals in public. The so-called propaganda law carries a punishment of up to 400,000 rubles ($6,500) for Russians who break it.
Putin enacted new laws this month that prohibit foreigners from nations that permit gender changes from adopting Russian children.
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