Tatchell arrested in Moscow

Human Rights Campaigner arrested while protesting legally.

AS the 2018 World Cup in Moscow prepares to kick off at 3pm this afternoon, LGBT+ and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been arrested during a one-man protest against Russia’s mistreatment of LGBT+ people.

Mr Tatchell was holding a banner supporting gay men who have been violently targeted in a purge in Chechnya while standing next to the statue of Marshal Zhukov close to the Kremlin.

This is the campaigner’s sixth visit to Russia to show solidarity with the LGBT+ freedom struggle there. He was previously arrested twice during protests in Moscow and suffered brain damage after being attacked by Russian neo-Nazis in 2007.

Speaking from Moscow before the protest, Peter Tatchell said: “I was exercising my lawful right to protest, under the Russian constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to protest in Articles 29 and 31. A one-person protest, which is what I did, requires no permission from the authorities and the police.

“Getting arrested is standard for Russians who protest for LGBT+ rights or against corruption, economic injustice, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its bombing of civilians in Syria.

“Unlike brave Russian protesters, I have the ‘protection’ of a British passport, which means I have been treated more leniently than they are.

“My fate was mild compared to what often happens to Russians who dare to challenge the Putin regime. I am awed by their courage.”

President Putin has failed to condemn and act against the homophobic witch-hunts in Chechnya, which have seen scores of LGBT+ people arrested and tortured, with some even being killed, while the singer Zelim Bakaev disappeared in Chechnya in August 2017 and has never been seen since.

Tatchell continued: “Russia’s 2013 anti-gay law against so-called ‘homosexual propaganda’ has been used to suppress peaceful LGBT+ protests, sack LGBT+ teachers and suppress welfare organisations that support LGBT+ teenagers.

“Little action has been taken by the Russian government and police to crack down on far right extremists who target LGBT+ people for violent and humiliating assaults – including the instigators of the current threats to bash and stab LGBT+ football fans at the World Cup.”

Humanists UK’s Chief Executive, Andrew Copson, said: “We are dismayed to hear that our patron Peter Tatchell has been detained while raising awareness of Chechnya’s heinous torture and abuse of LGBT people, ahead of the World Cup. We’re concerned for Peter’s safety and call on the Moscow authorities to release him at once.

“Peter is a great example of a humanist who relentlessly stands up for human rights, risking his health and safety to speak truth to power – including to some of the world’s most powerful human rights-abusing regimes. Russia might want to silence those who shine a spotlight on its human rights abuses, but brave campaigners like Peter will always be here to hold them to account.”