Neo-Nazis and ultranationalists are luring gay Russians teens to “dates” where they are then bullied and tortured while being recorded on video, according to reports.
The mastermind behind the nationwide coordinated assaults is an infamous neo-Nazi named Maxim Martsinkevich who is the leader of an ultra-violent right-wing group based in Moscow called Format18.
Martsinkevich’s newest campaign purports to stamp out pedophiles by posting same-sex personal ads on VK.com, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, according to the Huffington Post.
Followers of Martsinkevich’s anti-pedophile campaign have organized themselves into two distinct groups — “Occupy Pedophilyaj” and “Occupy Gerontilyaj” — but they have only ever attacked male teenagers responding to the personal ads.
“Video recordings of bullying and tortures are freely distributed on the Internet in order to out LGBT teens to their respective schools, parents and friends. Many victims were driven to suicides, the rest are deeply traumatized,” said Spectrum Human Rights Alliance (SHRA), an LGBT rights group that focuses on Eastern Europe.
“These self-proclaimed ‘crime fighters’ perform their actions under the broad day light, often outside and clearly visible to general public that indifferently passes by or even commend them.”
In one of the relatively tame examples of the attacks posted on YouTube, a 15-year-old teen is lured to a date with an older man supposedly named “Uncle Dima” when a group of alleged neo-Nazis confront him.
The bullies start by taking the teen to a bench and interrogating him where the teen admits that he is there to have sex, possibly for money.
The group mocks him but the teen seems to think he is safe, giving his interrogators his name, where is from, what school he goes to and his age.
But things start to turn dark as a figure steps out of frame to seemingly fill a bottle with urine.
Someone then pours the contents of the bottle over the teen’s head before another alleged Nazi kicks him.
The video then cuts off.
To watch the graphic video click here.
“We do not like homosexuals,” an Occupy Pedophilyaj member told Russian online newspaper Lenta.
“I think practically all gay men — pedophiles. Once you’ve crossed over once, you can cross over again. Today he likes boys, and then it’ll be children. They’re not suitable for life in society.”
The actions of groups like Occupy Pedophiyaj and Occupy Gerontilyaj come in the wake of two laws signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, which drastically restrict gay rights.
One, signed on July 3, bans adoption by same-sex foreign couples whose homeland recognizes their union as marriage, as well as by single people or unmarried couples from those countries.
A Kremlin statement said the measure is intended to guarantee children a “harmonious” upbringing and protect them from “complexes, emotional suffering and stress.”
The second bill, signed into law on June 30, bans the “promotion” of “non-traditional sexual relations” towards children.
Authorities have interpreted the law to mean that public displays of affection between same sex couples are illegal and it also includes a provision allowing “pro-gay” foreigners to be arrested and detained for up to 14 days.
This latter provision was invoked in July when four Dutch LGBT right advocates were arrested at a summer camp, according to the Washington Blade.
Although the two bills strictly limit gay rights in Russia, Putin claims that the laws are not discrimination and are instead “about protecting children from such information.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Putin’s claims while defending the laws which ban what he calls “homosexual propaganda.”
“We don’t have a single international or common European commitment to allow propaganda of homosexuality,” he said.