You are here: Home » Hot Topics » Activism » Call To Phone Bomb Russian Embassy Over Detention Of Russian Gay Activist

Call To Phone Bomb Russian Embassy Over Detention Of Russian Gay Activist

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on September 16, 2010.

09/16/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Despite word that Nikolai Alekseev is safe, Andy Thayer has called for people to phone the Russian Embassy, and even flood them with phone calls. The reason why he was arrested appears to be that the FSB, formerly the KGB, wanted to put pressure on Alekseev to drop several lawsuits and a picket of the Moscow mayor. Word has come that Alekseev is safe, and relatively free, but his treatment is certainly not something that a nation should put its people through.

Here is the information from the Facebook page Thayer set up as well as the link:

A close friend of (Andy Thayer) one of our members, Nikolai Alekseev, was lifted by the Russian Police in Moscow earlier today, and since there has been no contact, just before he was arrested he made two phone calls, the following is cut and pasted from the article from Interfax…one of his calls.
“His arrest took place right after the passport control. The border police asked Swiss Air Lines to cancel his boarding pass and …to offload his luggage from the plane.

He had time to call a friend as well as the news agency Interfax. Reports of his arrest have been republished in the evening through the Russian media.

As he told his friends and the media, no explanation was given to him on the motive of his arrest.

A group of 3 activists from GayRussia led by Nikolai Baev went to the airport to try to locate Nikolai Alekseev. The airport police told them that Nikolai was not retained by the airport police and one police officer suggested that he was being interrogated by the FSB (ex-KGB) at its headquarter in Lubyanka (Central Moscow). ”
We have to make sure they know that the international community is aware of this and will not stand for this the number for the DC Russian Embassy is below, call them, several times, let them know the world is watching, voice your outrage. Please call the Russian embassy in DC right now 202-298-5700

Read about Alekseev’s amazing work in this article by Chicago activist Andy Thayer, who went to Moscow for the pride event.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-thayer/how-russian-gay-activists_b_594517.html
How Russian Gay Activists Outwitted the Secret Police

Russian gays and lesbians accomplished their most successful Pride yet — a highly visible event with lots of press coverage, no arrests and no beatings, despite government bans and a police dragnet.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=128316523884017&ref=search