A Moscow court on Friday posthumously convicted Andrei Kotov, an LGBTQ travel agent who died in custody a year ago, in a ruling widely seen by rights groups as a stark symbol of Russia’s escalating repression of sexual minorities.
Kotov, 48, was found dead in his cell in a Moscow pre-trial detention centre in December 2024, a month after his arrest. Despite his death, the Golovinsky District Court proceeded with the case, finding him guilty of participating in “extremist activity” and of using minors for pornography, according to independent outlet Mediazona.
The verdict comes amid an aggressive state campaign under President Vladimir Putin to suppress LGBTQ expression, organisations and activism a campaign that has intensified since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the country’s shift toward ultraconservative nationalism.
Kotov, who ran Men Travel, a company catering to LGBTQ clients, had previously told the court in November 2024 that he was violently beaten during his arrest. “Fifteen people came to me at night, beat me, were punching me in the face,” he said during one of his final hearings. His lawyer later confirmed that investigators informed her he had died by suicide.
Rights organisations say authorities used the case as a political tool, leaving it active even after Kotov’s death to send a message of fear to LGBTQ people in Russia. “This was intended as a show trial,” activists argue, warning that it reinforces the climate of intimidation and criminalisation surrounding the community.
Since 2023, when Russia’s Supreme Court labelled the so-called “international LGBT movement” an extremist organisation, prosecutions have surged. Human Rights Watch said the ruling “opened the floodgates for arbitrary prosecutions of individuals who are LGBT or perceived to be, along with anyone who defends their rights or expresses solidarity with them.”
Although LGBTQ people have long faced hostility in Russia, advocates say conditions have worsened sharply, with the state now treating queer identity itself as a threat to national security and cultural purity. The latest ruling, they warn, underscores a justice system increasingly weaponised against those who do not conform to the Kremlin’s definition of “traditional family values.”