Locked up in a Russian preventive detention center since April 5, the Chinese university student Haoyang Xu (21 years old) is waiting for his appeal to save him from being deported away from his partner.
His crime, showing his life on social networks with Gela Gogishvili (23 years old), another Georgian boy with Russian citizenship.
Both have lived together since 2021 in the city of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga, and both can be separated by the Russian justice by applying the new version of the so-called law against LGTBIQ propaganda.
His case is one of the first exemplary punishments of the new lgtbiphobic legislation, signed in his handwriting by Vladimir Putin in December, and his trial reinforces another equally dangerous trend, according to some human rights defenders:
The couple has more than 67,000 followers on their YouTube channel.
In their last video together, Gogishvili and Haoyang reported having been the victims of numerous homophobic threats.
On the one hand, from various ultranationalist groups that echoed his channel, including the deputy Alexander Jinstein, from Putin's party and promoter of the new law.
On the other, from Haoyang Xu's own teacher, who gathered her students to warn them that the police knew about the channel and that they should respect the traditions of the country in which they lived.
"I don't know how I am now," Gogishvili admits to EL PAÍS.
“I sleep and eat badly every day because I fear for Haoyang, the court literally made its decision in two minutes,” he says shakily over the phone.
"They didn't listen to us."
“My family did not know my sexual orientation before.
He did not accept my relationship," laments Gogishvili.
"And she's been very hurt since all this started," he adds.
“We knew there was some danger in opening the channel, but we didn't expect something like this to happen so quickly and in this way.
The police violated the law on the one hand, and on the other, Haoyang has already been locked up in a detention center.
They try foreigners and deport them quickly," denounces Gogishvili, who also regrets that they called the Chinese consulate, "but they didn't help at all."
His life has not been easy even before.
"It is difficult for everyone to live in Russia, especially for gays, and even more especially if you are not Russian, because they consider gays to be a thing of foreign propaganda and we come for Russian children," Gogishvili asserts, stressing: "The homophobes never threatened our lives, but there were insults, especially against Haoyang.”
"At the moment we have not made plans, but if Haoyang is deported, we will continue together," Gogishvili says emphatically about their future as a couple.
Earlier, Haoyang and Gogishvili had spread a message to their followers through their channel: “In these very difficult times, when living and being loved is so scary for many;
when laws appear that veto them as people;
when not everyone can be open;
it is necessary to support them like never before.”
The complaint from a temple watchman in the remote Altai region served as a platter for the arrest of the two boyfriends to the police, who allegedly investigated their channel.
“Haoyang Xu posted 19 videos showing non-traditional sexual relations with citizen GZ Gogishvili.
That is to say, being men, they kiss, hug and touch different parts of the body, even in the genital area", stated the police report presented against the Chinese student and to which the independent media outlet Jolod,
declared a foreign agent
, has had access.
by the Kremlin.
Compared to this version, the videos hardly see anything more than kisses, and YouTube censors any type of pornographic content on its channels.
Finally, the authorities received a setback this Friday.
“The Kazan magistrate refused to try Gela Gogishvili on the same charge as Haoyang Xu.
The case has been returned to the police department,” announced the human rights organization that provides them with legal assistance,
Delo—LGBT
.
“The courts only return cases to the police when it is evident and clear that they have done their job very badly.
When there is not enough evidence, when it is visible that they have not been professionals,” Konstantín Boikov, a lawyer for
Delo—LGBT,
also declared a foreign agent by the authorities, emphasizes by videoconference.
Among other irregularities denounced by the lawyers, there was no ruling from a court of first instance;
the translation of the videos was done by the police themselves and not by professional translators;
the agents did not identify any minor among the followers;
nor did they take into account that the channel displayed at all times the mandatory indication that it was for adults.
Despite this partial victory for his partner, Haoyang Xu is waiting for the Tatarstan Supreme Court to decide whether or not to accept his appeal against his extradition.
“Let's not celebrate today too loudly.
It is a victory, but we live in Russia, it must be taken into account, ”Gogishvili warned his followers when he learned that his own accusation came to nothing.
“We are concerned about how long Haoyang Xu is going to be locked up.
In each video they can search for a violation of the law.
It is not in the best scenario”, Vladimir Kómov, main partner of Delo—LGBT, tells EL PAÍS
.
The Chinese student has not received any support from his consulate, and Gogishvili visits his partner almost daily in their pre-trial detention center, located about 300 kilometers from Kazan.
He brings her food and denounces that the conditions of the place are bad.
“Haoyang has received hot water today for the first time in three days.
And it's cold,” says the young Georgian.
In the crosshairs of the new law
It is noteworthy that, being accused by the same legal article, 6.21.2 ("propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations between minors"), each member of the couple was judged by a different court.
"The cases have been taken to different levels because the Haoyang issue has a political nature, it clashes not only with the homophobic issue, but also with the nationalist one," says Komov.
The activist emphasizes that trials for the dissemination of LGTBIQ propaganda, "relatively few compared to other crimes", have skyrocketed in times of war.
If in the last four years only seven were registered, since December there are already 14 under the new legal framework, and to this are added more than a hundred orders to eliminate LGTBIQ content on the internet in the last four months, according to what his organization has been able to verify. .
Likewise, if before only 20% of the cases ended in a conviction;
now they are all found guilty.
Delo—LGBT
also stresses that the new law is being used to target foreigners.
Of the nine cases tried in Moscow, six were people from outside Russia and all of them were expelled, while in faraway Kamchatka another German citizen was also sentenced, although he was not deported.
“The law has many aspects.
Not only human rights themselves, but their other uses", denounces Komov, and adds: "If until 2022 legislators focused on the argument of the protection of minors for their law against homosexual propaganda, now the discourse revolves around around the defense and construction of the State, of national interests”.
The lawyer Konstantín Boikov thinks along the same lines: "Our Government uses the investigations of LGTBIQ people with the aim of reinforcing State policy", and stresses that the authorities "thus affirm that everything LGTBIQ is the work of the enemy, a way to influence the Western collective, NATO, the
Ucronazis
”.
In addition, the new legislation is open enough to be able to incriminate anyone.
"The word propaganda has one meaning in Europe, but it is different in the Russian language," Boikov emphasizes.
"The judge considers that propaganda is simply disseminating information, not calling for something or influencing anything," the lawyer qualifies.
Boikov gives as an example the case of the Russian blogger Stasik Kudryav, the first to be accused under the new law "for making LGTBIQ propaganda among adults" by wearing a woman's dress on video and having painted himself with makeup.
Boikov recalls that during the trial he asked the magistrate if the clothing of a woman wearing jeans was not also propaganda.
"What advertisement?
Each one feels different emotions towards things, it is not an appeal to anything”, laments the lawyer, concerned about the arbitrary use of laws like this or the one that persecutes those who discredit the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in the war in Ukraine.
“The law is used for their own benefit.
It is enough to call the police, try someone and fine him 1,000 or 2,000 euros ”, denounces the lawyer.
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