Orenburg bar Pose owner and staff sentenced to up to seven years for alleged involvement in the ‘LGBT movement’
Vyacheslav Khasanov, the owner of Orenburg bar Pose, has been sentenced to seven years in a penal colony. The bar’s administrator, Diana Kamilyanova, was sentenced to six years and three months, and art director Alexander Klimov to two years and three months. A correspondent for Ostorozhno Novosti reported the verdicts from the courtroom of the Central District Military Court.
The case against the owner and staff of Pose was the first criminal prosecution for alleged involvement in the ‘international LGBT movement’ following that non-existent ‘movement’s’ designation as extremist in 2023.
Diana Kamilyanova and Vyacheslav Khasanov were convicted as organisers of the activities of an extremist organisation under part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code; Alexander Klimov was convicted as a participant under part 2 of the same article. None of them admitted guilt. All three were also given periods of restricted liberty following the completion of their sentences, ranging from six weeks to eight months. Diana Kamilyanova and Vyacheslav Khasanov were banned from working in management roles in the entertainment, catering and leisure sectors for between two and three years. Vyacheslav Khasanov was additionally ordered to pay one million roubles, which the court deemed ‘criminal proceeds from the activities of an extremist organisation.’
According to the court’s press office, the convicted individuals ‘under the guise of running a nightlife venue, organised events centred on demonstrating affiliation with persons of so-called non-traditional sexual orientation to an unspecified circle of visitors to the establishment.’ The charges related to parties featuring performances by drag artists.
The National Guard and members of the Russian Community organisation raided Pose on 9 March 2024. The Russian Community claimed that women’s wigs and bags containing women’s clothing were seized at the venue. Similar items were also found at staff members’ homes: ‘At the home of one of the club’s employees, a female stage costume, a wig, a prosthetic female breast and a smartphone were seized. As for the club’s administrator, five women’s wigs were found at his address.’
Criminal proceedings were opened on 18 March of the same year. Alexander Klimov and Diana Kamilyanova were remanded in custody, with Vyacheslav Khasanov arrested shortly afterwards. In the months that followed, Alexander Klimov and Diana Kamilyanova were transferred to house arrest. Vyacheslav Khasanov’s pre-trial measure appears to have been similarly relaxed — in a photograph released by the court’s press office, he is not being held in the defendants’ cage but is listening to the verdict alongside the other defendants.
