Gay activists slam Russia over Moscow incidents

Gay activists slam Russia over Moscow incidents

Liberal and leftwing lawmakers in Strasbourg also called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to raise the issue of the 'systematic violation of human rights' in Russia with President Vladimir Putin during the June 6-8 G8 summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm.

'Putin must decide whether Russia still adheres to the values of the Council of Europe, of which it is a member,' EU Liberal Democrat leader Graham Watson was quoted as saying.

Luxuria, who is Italy's first transgender lawmaker, spoke to dpa shortly after her arrival in Rome, a day after being targeted by right-wing extremists during Sunday's gay rally in the Russian capital.

'They threw eggs at me and the police did nothing to stop them. When I saw one of them brandishing a knife, I ran away,' said Luxuria.

Televised images broadcast by Sky Italia television showed several men dressed in black hitting Peter Tatchell - a British gay activist - and other participants, among them Italian, Austrian and German lawmakers. Reports said at least one Orthodox priest also took part in the beatings.

Marco Cappato, a European Parliament member, said he exchanged blows in front of Moscow's City Hall with an anti-gay man clad in camouflage fatigues as riot police looked on.

Cappato and Volker Beck of the German parliament were detained and later released by police. The rally's organizer, Nikolai Aleksev, was still being held in police custody Monday, Luxuria said.

A total of 31 people were reported to have been detained, more than half of them gay activists.

Sunday's unauthorised rally, called to mark the anniversary of the 1993 decriminalisation of homosexual relationships in Russia, had been banned by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who had previously called such demonstrations 'satanic'.

His spokesman, Mikhail Solomontsev, praised 'the clear, smooth and polite work of the police, who acted strictly within the law.'