HRW slams Russia for spiralling homophobic attacks

Source: Agent France Press

MOSCOW: Human Rights Watch sounded the alarm Monday over the rising number of homophobic attacks in Russia, slamming Vladimir Putin's government for "inaction" and urging a crackdown on hate crimes. The US-based rights group said homophobic attacks increased in Russia after Putin signed a hugely controversial law banning "gay propaganda" to minors.

"All over Russia there has been an increase in attacks by vigilante groups and individuals against LGBT people in the past two years," the watchdog said in a report released in Moscow on Monday. "Instead of publicly denouncing anti-LGBT violence and rhetoric, Russia's leadership has remained silent." The study gathered testimony from 78 victims of homophobic crime, detailing the lack of support they received from the Russian legal system.

In 2013, Putin signed a law banning the so-called "propaganda" of gay relationships to minors, despite an outcry from rights groups, Western governments and celebrities including Madonna.

The law "effectively legalises discrimination," Human Rights Watch said, and "coincided with a ratcheting up of homophobic rhetoric in state media and an increase in homophobic violence around the country." \

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