KGB puts pressure on LGBT group

On 7 December, officers of the KGB Hrodna office interrogated an 18-year-old activist of the GayBelarus LGBT human rights project, offering him cooperation. On 19 December, he was summoned for a “conversation” again. However, the activist declined the invitation.

“They asked me about the management of the organization and some of its members. In particular, they asked me about the address of the organization’s leader Siarhei Androsenka. They also offered cooperation with them to report on what is going on inside the organization”, says the LGBT activist.

Another GayBelarus activist Maksim Haikou was interrogated by Vitsebsk KGB agents who inquired about the organization’s plans to hold a gay pride in the city.

One of the GayBelarus co-founders, a student in a university in Vitsebsk, was accused of undermining the moral basics of the state and promoting unhealthy lifestyle in a conversation with deputy dean of her faculty.

Several GayBelarus co-founders have received phone calls from the Ministry of Justice, whose officials asked whether the activists actually attended the GayBelarus founding congress on 15 October.

“This is the situation I have foreseen – the active stand of our organization could not but attract attention from the state. Moreover, we all know in what state we are living. I am calling on the activists not to fear such situations and report on them to the organization’s leaders”, says GayBelarus leader Siarhei Androsenka.

After GayBelarus.By