Meet Oleg Mitvol, Moscow’s Anti-Gay Bar But Pro-Brothel Magistrate

Oleg Mitvol, prefect of the Northern Administrative District in Moscow, just lost a court battle where he tried to keep closed the gay bar Dusha i Telo (“Soul and Body”) by pressuring its landlord to evict the nightlife venue, which it did in August 2009. (He’s also trying to oust a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses.) But what does Mr. Mitvol not have a problem with? All of the brothels in the city, of which activists have identified 30 of, and which Mitvol turns a blind eye to. So to draw his attention, a giant poster of Mitvol was hung over the side of one of the brothel buildings.