In November of 2013, fearing prosecution for violent crimes perpetrated and recorded on video against young gay men, neo-Nazi Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich hastily fled Russia to avoid imminent arrest. On January 9th, Martsinkevich posted on his website that he was living in Cuba, claiming he had been in the country since last December. This past Friday, the Cuban government arrested Martsinkevich on an international warrent and Cuba is finalizing the extradition process to deport him back to Russia where he has been charged in absentia with incitement of ethnic and social hatred, a penalty that carries a sentence of 3-5 years.
The Martsinkevich case promises to be something well worth our attention as we head into the Sochi Winter Olympics. Preferring to be known as "Tesak", translated roughly as Machete or Cleaver in English, Martsinkevich can best be described as a vigilante terrorist. Spectrum Human Rights Alliance sums him up well.
Infamous Russian ultranationalist and former skin head, Maxim Martsinkevich, known under the nickname "Cleaver"...spearheaded a country wide campaign against LGBT teens using a popular social network VK.com to lure unsuspected victims through personal ads. Mr. Martsinkevich's numerous and enthusiastic followers started two projects: 'Occupy Pedophilyaj' and 'Occupy Gerontilyaj'. Allegedly they are trying to identify and report pedophiles using these 'movements'. In reality, over 500 online groups have been created inside VK.com social network in order to organize illegal militant groups in every Russian city. Oddly enough their idea of fighting pedophiles targets exclusively male teenagers who respond to the same-sex personal ads and show up for a date. Captured victims are bullied and often tortured while being recorded on video. 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. 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. So far Russian police took no action against these "movements" even though Russian criminal code was clearly violated and despite numerous complaints from parents, victims and LGBT activists. Social network VK.com intermittently shuts down selected groups and profiles only to allow them to be re-open on the next day. Currently, the founder of VK.com, Pavel Durov, resides in the US and so far has not released any comments.
Many observers to the draconian step backwards in LGBT rights accelerating in Russia have noted that anti-gay violence perpetrated by "leaders" such as Martsinkevic has risen sharply in a short period of time. Emboldened by what they perceive as a government tacitly condoning their violent actions, they have removed their hoods in favor of proudly uploading videos of their victims being humiliated and tortured, the faces of their attackers visible to the world. During this sickening turn of events, Martsinkevic's face was among the most prominent.
We can expect Martsinkevic to arrive back in Russia very quickly. Once there, large questions loom. What will happen next? This couldn't come at a more inconvenient time for Russia. These past couple of days, Putin has been attempting to do some damage control on the well documented human rights abuses ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Yesterday, he sat down with George Stephanopoulos to assure a skittish world that Russia was a-okay with the gays. As you might expect, he bungled it.
"No concerns exist for people who intend to come as athletes or visitors to the Olympics,” Putin claimed, adding that protests of the anti-LGBT laws would be allowed. “Acts of protest and acts of propaganda are somewhat different things. They are close. But if we were to look at them from the legal perspective, then that does not amount to propaganda of homosexuality or sexual abuse of children.”
“Russia does not criminally prosecute people for being gay, unlike in over one-third of the world’s nations,” he continued. “70 of the world’s nations consider homosexual behavior a crime. Seven out of the 70 use capital punishment for homosexuality. What does it mean? Does it mean we need to cancel any major international sports events in these countries? Probably not.”
Bolding mine.
Of course it all went south the moment he linked "homosexual propaganda" with the sexual abuse of children. Where on earth have we heard that rotten old chestnut before?
As Russia prepares for its moment on the world stage, it has been clearly concerned with its image, the money to be made - or lost , and the very real potential for political backlash and embarrassment. The opportunity to shine a spotlight against human rights abuses is huge and necessary as the world watches.