Gay clubgoers in Moscow found guilty of ‘hooliganism’ amid armed raids
A video shared online appears to show a group of people in a nightclub sitting with their hands on their heads as an armed officer issues orders
By Gary Grimes
Up to a dozen queer clubgoers in Moscow were rounded up in police raids and found guilty of “hooliganism” earlier this month by a court in Russia.
The Russian state-run TASS news agency recently reported that three clubs, Arma, Inferno, and Mono, were raided “as part of measures to combat LGBT propaganda,” according to LGBTQ Nation.
In a video of one of the raids, clubgoers can be seen sitting on the floor with their hands over their heads receiving orders from armed police officers.
Russian outlet Vyorstka reported that at the Mono raid, young men were handed military draft notices by police.
🚨 Russia: Putin regime enforcers raided 3 largest Moscow nightclubs on Friday night —
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) November 30, 2024
Simachev, Mutabor/ARMA and Mono.
Many men taken to the military conscription offices.
Women eventually released after their passports were photographed.
Raids with police K9s lasted for hours. pic.twitter.com/T4oeVZEDQE
Post-raid, the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow gave a statement confirming the individuals detained were found guilty of petty hooliganism and disrupting public order.
“These citizens committed an administrative offense, which was expressed in obvious disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place,” the statement read. The offenders were reportedly sentenced to administrative detention.
These raids follow reports of two similar raids taking place last year in Moscow which saw more than 50 people detained.
“It is necessary to do everything so that new generations of our citizens grow up oriented toward traditional family values”
The incident comes after President Vladimir Putin signed a bill in November to make it illegal for citizens of countries permitting gender-affirming care to adopt Russian children.
“It is necessary to do everything so that new generations of our citizens grow up oriented toward traditional family values,” Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin wrote about the bill in a Telegram post.
In the same post he referred to “the West’s policy towards children” as “destructive.” It is understood that the bill also effectively bans adoption by citizens of NATO member states.