A thread for GLBT martyrs

[William769]

5. Gay man killed in Russia's second suspected hate crime in weeks

(Reuters) - A man was murdered in Russia because he was gay, investigators said on Monday, the second such killing in less than a month, and activists fear homophobic violence is being fuelled by President Vladimir Putin's conservative agenda.

Three men in a village on the Kamchatka peninsula on Russia's eastern coast stabbed and trampled the victim to death last week, the country's Investigative Committee said.

The suspects, who are under arrest, put the 39-year-old's body in his car and set in on fire, it said in a statement. Interfax news agency reported the victim was a senior administrator at an airport.

It is unusual for Russian authorities to link crimes with homophobia. Last month investigators in the southern city of Volgograd said a 23-year-old man was tortured and killed after revealing he was gay during a drinking session.

Activists said that killing was an example of rising violence against homosexuals, which they fear is being fuelled by a bill backed by Putin's allies in parliament that would ban spreading homosexual "propaganda" among minors.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/03/us-russia-killing-gay-idUSBRE95209Z20130603