Are Russian Police Sending Fake Text Messages to Make Everyone Think Activist Nikolai Alekseev Is Safe?
Nikolai Alekseev, the Russian activist and Moscow Gay Pride organizer who went missing after an arrest at Moscow’s airport, is supposedly safe in Minsk, Bealrus. If he ever wants to return to his mother country, he’ll have to disavow his claim in the European Court of Human Rights that state authorities are unfairly discriminating against the gays, and drop his demands that Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov resign.
UPDATE: Is an impostor pretending to be Alekseev and text messaging activist friends to make them think he’s safe?
Not only have Belerussian activists not seen or spoken to him, but when personal questions are asked of Alekseev, there is no SMS response, indicating whomever is sending messages from his phone is not him.
It should be noted that Alexei Davydov, who is quoted in some of these articles, is now convinced that all messages he and others including media outlets got from Alekseev since his arrest are faked. This is his blog:
Same say more activists in Moscow and Belarus, who doubt that he is really in Minsk.
It seems that no one has had personal contact with Alekseev for the last two days. At least thats my conclusion for the website I´m working for (beware: Google Translate works badly in German and he isn´t “gone”). And i heard from a reliable source that Nicolais messages have been faked before, when he was in prison at Moscow Pride 2009.
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Real reason to worry he has been ‘disappeared’ http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/09/russian-lgbt-leader-exiled-to-minsk.html
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Continuing coverage can be found at “Focus On The Rainbow” at OutLoudBlogs.
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To help please contact your representative to pressure State to make statement on Nikolai. This is serious, he is in great danger.
LGBT Asylum News updates here http://bit.ly/byanLn
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It’s confirmed he’s in Moscow and will make a statement later today. Earlier he blamed Swiss Air Lines for his arrest and said he’s thinking of suing them http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/09/russian-lgbt-leader-exiled-to-minsk.html
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Nikolai account (bad translation) http://bit.ly/byanLn
Was NOT detained by FSB, he says, but Moscow Mayor’s thugs.
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Allegedly he has caved. Which if true would be really really awful http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/09/russian-lgbt-leader-exiled-to-minsk.html