Law enforcers' provocations put gays in Dagestan under additional threat

Gays in Dagestan were in danger even before law enforcers held provocations and raids on them; and after the arrest of the gay blogger Matvei Volodin, threats have grown manifold. However, as noted by rights defenders, law enforcers have no real grounds to open cases against gays under the article on extremism.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in Dagestan, after the arrest of Matvei Volodin, who is also a porn actor, law enforcers launched a campaign against gays. One of the detainees, Yusuf, has left Russia after he was forced to agree to cooperate with law enforcers.

In the opinion of Alexandra Miroshnikova, the press secretary of the SK SOS Crisis Group*, law enforcers' provocations and the detention of blogger Volodin have put gays in Dagestan under additional threat. As for criminal cases initiated because of personal videos found on phones, there have been no charges of extremism yet.

In Dagestan, members of the gay community are under a great threat, Aida Mirmaksumova, the head of the "Fathers and Daughters" project, has stated. She has noted that by the law personal videos cannot become the basis for initiating criminal cases; but she believes that in Russia "everything is possible."

Law enforcement bodies are often using personal information from people's phones to bring charges, Saida Sirazhudinova, the president of the Centre for Studying Global Issues of Contemporary and Regional Problems "Caucasus. World. Development", has noted.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.