Moscow gay pride
organizer Nikolai Alekseev will soon face charges of
slander and insult for allegedly outing former parliament
member Alexander Chuev on live national television,
reports the UK Gay News.
Speaking on the
NTV channel's talk show K Baryeru! on
June 21, Alekseev reportedly called the state Duma deputy
a "gay, coward, and hypocrite." It was the first outing
of a gay politician in Russia.
Six days later,
Chuev sent a complaint to the General Prosecution
department questioning whether Alekseev breached articles
129 (slander), 130 (insult), and 282 (incitement
of hatred) of the Russian Criminal Code. The case
was transferred to Moscow prosecution, which began a
criminal investigation on July 31.
The criminal case
against the Moscow pride organizer is expected to
arrive in court shortly. The court will have to give the
final verdict whether Alekseev committed any crime
under Russian law.
According to
UK Gay News, Alekseev recently said, "The
criminal case against me was conducted with multiple
breaches of legislation and the investigators failed to find
any prove of my guilt. Until the court hearing I have
no right to disclose the details of the case and the
proof that is [to be] used against me. But during the
court process, many details will become known."
Alekseev added
that he believes the court has no other choice but to find
him innocent, "though in the current condition of pressure
from authorities I can not exclude that the decision
of the court will not be fair which is not anymore a
surprise to us. In any case we are ready to lead this
case up to the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg."
Regardless of the
outcome, the pride organizer feels the end justified
the means: "We reached the main goal of defeating Mr. Chuev
in Duma elections in December."
Chuev failed to
get 7% of votes for his Fair Russia party in the
Khabarovsk region. As of Christmas Eve, he is no longer
a deputy of the Duma. (The Advocate)
