Russian anti-gay gang violence seen for the first time on camera

Forthcoming C4 documentary reveals disturbing methods used by homophobic groups as Olympics near

The Guardian, The Observer, Paul Gallagher and Vanessa Thorpe, Saturday 1 February 2014

As the Sochi Winter Olympics approach, new footage has emerged of
anti-gay attacks in Russia. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Shocking footage of the violent groups that target gay men and lesbian women in Russia will reveal the dangerous levels of homophobia in the country in the runup to the Sochi Winter Olympics this week.

A Channel 4 documentary, Hunted, to be broadcast in the Dispatches strand on Wednesday at 10pm, will include the first television reporting of the concerted intimidation and humiliation carried out by the anti-gay groups Parents of Russia and Occupy Paedophilia.

"We filmed these groups with their knowledge, and what I found shocking afterwards was that only a few asked to have their faces disguised. They all believe they are doing the right thing," said Liz Mackean, the investigative journalist who travelled to Russia to make the film for C4.

"Occupy Paedophilia has groups in more than 30 cities. They operate with impunity and under the cover of the remarks [Vladimir] Putin has made suggesting that children are at risk from homosexuals," Mackean added. The film shows the gangs using the internet to lure potential victims to meetings, before threatening violence to force confessions or humiliating acts. One victim is persuaded to dance and is filmed for the internet.

"Occupy Paedophilia deliberately blurs the lines between paedophilia and homosexuality," said Tom Porter, commissioning editor of the documentary. "During one of the filmed incidents of humiliation, the group asked our cameraman and director, Ben Steele, to stop filming, but he continued partly because he was concerned that if he stopped there would be violence."

In another sequence, Timur Isav, a self-styled crusading member of Parents of Russia, is shown attending a lesbian and gay event and handing out bags containing a length of rope, with the intention of suggesting they commit suicide.

C4 is also broadcasting the Paralympic Winter Games in March. "It just shows the way a broad channel like Channel 4 can exist," said Porter. "We are doing our investigation, while over in sport they are doing the Winter Games."

Mackean said the gay Russians she interviewed were against a boycott of the Games, because they feared it would lead to increased reprisals.

International human rights groups plan to step up their protests against Russia's anti-gay laws during the event in a bid to reverse legislation that they say is responsible for a dramatic rise in homophobic attacks.

Athlete Ally, an organisation focused on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports, is among the organisations that have called for worldwide peaceful action on Wednesday as part of a "Global Speak Out" event in support of Russian LGBT people. Wesley Adams, chief operating officer at US-based campaign group All Out, who is co-ordinating the Speak Out protests, called for everyone to wear red clothing at the events – a colourful move echoing the German national team's decision to wear rainbow-coloured kit for the Games. Adams said he wants protests to take place not just at embassies but anywhere "that refers to Russia in a positive way".

Referring to the Principle Six campaign – named after the clause in the Olympic charter that supposedly guarantees non-discrimination – he said: "We also encourage people to use Principle Six messaging as a positive way to push Olympians, Olympic sponsors and the IOC to speak up.

"Principle Six of the Olympic Charter forbids discrimination of any kind, including based on sexual orientation. The Principle Six campaign uses the language of the charter to give athletes and fans a way to speak out against discrimination before and during the Sochi Olympics without breaking Russian anti-gay laws or violating the Olympic ban on political speech."

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who will be attending the London protest at Downing Street on Wednesday evening, condemned "cowardly" Games sponsors, such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Visa, for not speaking out.

He said: "None of the corporate sponsors have explicitly condemned the Russian anti-gay law or homophobic violence in Russia. They've made only general, vague equality statements. This isn't good enough. They seem more interested in safeguarding their Russian sales than in standing up for human rights.

"I would have expected them to make a simple statement such as: 'We are deeply concerned about new Russian legislation that discriminates against the LGBT community. We deplore the homophobic violence that is taking place in Russia.' It is shameful and cowardly that they feel unable to say this."

Tatchell compared the Sochi Games with the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. "The 1936 Olympics took place in an atmosphere of antisemitic hatred incited by the Nazi government. The 2014 Sochi Olympics echo that hatred, only this time the victims of demonisation are LGBT people. There are no Nuremberg laws or concentration camps, but the hateful anti-gay propaganda is similar to the antisemitism stirred by the Nazis in the early 1930s. How can there be normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime like Putin's Russia?"

Human Rights Watch will continue to lobby officials behind the scenes this week. Hugh Williamson, director of the NGO's Europe and Central Asia division, said staff will be present at the Games getting information "on the ground" and commenting on developments.

He said: "We will continue to publish research, and lobby the IOC and Russian Olympic committee, as well as working with other LGBT groups all the way up to the Games."