‘LGBTQ+ travel operator’ found dead weeks after Putin declared it an ‘extremist group’

A Russian man accused of organising ‘LGBTQ+ travel tours’ has been found dead in a cell of a pre-trial detention centre in Moscow.

Andrey Kotov, the director of the travel agency Men Travel, was arrested in November for participating in an ‘extremist’ organisation.

The authorities accused the 48-year-old of organising a New Year’s trip for LGBTQ+ people to Egypt and an earlier queer cruise along the river Volga.

Kotov, who denied wrongdoing, had been held at Vodnik since December 2 and faced eight years in prison.

But the travel agent was found dead this morning, his lawyer confirmed to the Russian legal aid group OVD-Info.

An investigator told the lawyer that Kotov ‘committed suicide in his cell today at about 4am’, OVD-Info said.

Police insiders told news agency RIA Novosti that Kotov had ‘cuts’ on his body.

The Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement agency, has launched an inquiry into Kotov’s death.

A criminal case may be opened for negligence and incitement to suicide against the Russian prison service, FSIN, and Kotov’s cellmates.

Kotov alleged he was beaten and electrocuted during the midnight police raid of his home, the independent news outlet Mediazona reported.

Kotov later told a court: ‘About 15 people came to me at night, they beat me up, hit me in the face, hit me in the legs, left bruises. I didn’t offer any resistance, I was extremely surprised by this procedure.’

Footage showed the travel agent in his underwear handcuffed on the floor while being questioned by uniformed officers.

Kotov denied being involved in the ‘LGBTQ+ movement’. He said he was organising ‘ordinary tourist trips’ – such as boat rides and fishing trips – and ‘there were no calls… for any kind of extremism’.

The Golovinsky District Court of Moscow remanded Kotov into custody in December.

‘Kotov acted intentionally, illegally, for selfish reasons, with the aim of maximizing the company’s profit,’ the court’s press service said.

Officials did not specify which ‘extremist’ association he was part of but accused him of spreading ‘LGBTQ+ ideology’.

Kotov was placed in solitary confinement for 15 days and was denied medication and warm clothing, friends claimed.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has stepped up its chilling crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights as President Vladimir Putin claims the country is trying to preserve ‘traditional values’.

While homosexuality is legal, ‘gay propaganda’ is outlawed. Russian children can’t even be adopted by citizens of countries where trans people can change their legal gender.

Nearly nine in 10 queer Russians say they have noticed an increase in homophobic and transphobic attitudes in the last year, according to a poll by the campaign group Coming Out.

Nearly 45% experienced violence in 2023, compared to 30% the year before.

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