Residents of Stavropol Territory sentenced for extorting money from gays

In the Stavropol Territory, the court of Mineralnye Vody sentenced local residents to 2-5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony for extorting money from LGBT people under the threat to disclose their sexual orientation.

According to investigators, local residents searched for gays on the Internet and corresponded with them on behalf of a teenager who pretended to be a homosexual and met a "victim" in an apartment. The teenager gave a sign to his accomplices, and they broke into the apartment. They introduced themselves as policemen and demanded from gays to pay large amounts of money under the threats of spreading information about their non-traditional sexual orientation and using physical violence. One of the victims gave them money and his car.

One of the defendants explained that his friend had asked him to help find perpetrators of violent acts of sexual nature against children.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2017, in Vladikavkaz, a court considered a similar case against three local residents who were accused of a series of extortion and attacks on gays. The defendants explained their actions by homophobia.