unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen LGBTQ activists during a demonstration in St. Petersburg in 2013. Photo: AP/TT
The owner of a popular gay bar in the Russian city of Orenburg has been arrested for “extremism”, according to the human rights group OVD-Info.
The arrest comes after Russia last week put the international LGBTQ movement on the country’s list of terrorist and extremist groups.
Earlier this month, the bar was raided in the middle of a drag show. Later, the bar’s manager and artistic director were arrested, in the first legal case of its kind.
The owner of the bar was arrested three days ago at an airport in Moscow and is being held in custody together with his two colleagues.
Prosecutors accuse him of collusion with the international LGBT movement. If convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison.