Russian travel agent accused of organising LGBT tours found dead in pretrial detention

A Russian travel agent who was arrested in late November for organising holidays for LGBT people has been found dead in the Moscow pretrial detention centre where he was being held, Russian tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets reported on Sunday.

A criminal case was opened against Andrey Kotov, the director of Men Travel, on 28 November, after which he was arrested and charged with participating in and organising the activities of an “extremist community”, a reference to a Russian Supreme Court ruling last year deeming “the international LGBT movement” to be an extremist organisation.

Confirming the death of her client to Russian human rights organisation OVD-Info, Kotov’s lawyer Leysan Mannapova said that her client had been found dead in his cell on Sunday.

According to investigators, Kotov committed suicide in his cell at approximately 4am local time on Sunday morning. Moskovsky Komomolets reported that marks consistent with suicide had been found on Kotov’s body.

News of Kotov’s detention was first reported on 30 November, when footage of a police raid on his home in the middle of the night was released in which the travel agent can be seen struggling to catch his breath while being questioned aggressively by uniformed law enforcement officers.

Kotov, who had always denied the charges, was accused of organising gay tours, including a boat trip on the Volga, and a tour to Egypt that was planned for the near future. The investigator said an examination of Kotov’s telephone confirmed his involvement in the “crime”, which, he added, was “directed against the constitutional order and security of the state”.