British Gay Humanists Condemn Arrest of Gay Rights Leaders in Paris

London 8^th July 2011

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association has condemned the arrest and detention of a group of human rights campaigners who were a delivering a petition to the Russian Embassy in Paris, protesting at the recent renewal of the ban on the Moscow Gay Pride in defiance of the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.

Those arrested included IDAHO President Louis-Georges Tin and Russian human rights activist Nicolas Alekseev. The latter was reportedly denied access to a lawyer.

GALHA Chair Adam Knowles commented:

“These are the kind of repressive measures that you might expect in a brutal dictatorship. It beggars belief that they can happen in Western Europe in this day and age, and in France, a country with a long and proud record in defending liberty, equality and fraternity, and in a city with an openly gay Mayor.

“We call upon the French authorities to investigate these disgraceful events. We also call upon the Mayor of Moscow and the Russian Government to recognise the right of its gay and lesbian citizens to March peacefully through the streets of Moscow."