Moscow's oldest gay dance
club has been indirectly shut down by the city.
Tuesday, 19
January 2010 19 January
2010 Moscow's
oldest gay dance club has been indirectly shut down by the city, GayRussia.ru
reported Dec. 31.
Club Body & Soul had been targeted by Moscow Northern District Prefect Oleg
Mitvol, who claimed it brought drug trafficking, prostitution, public sex and
moral degradation to the neighborhood.
The club's lease was canceled by its landlord, the Society of Blind People,
which said it acted after being threatened with a loss of city subsidies if it
didn't evict the club.
The society's vice president, State Duma Deputy Oleg Smolin, is a political
rival of Mitvol.
Club management has filed suit over the eviction and vowed to pursue the case
as far as the European Court of Human Rights.
Leading gay activist Nikolai Alekseev alleged that the shutdown was another
example of government corruption that he said has burdened nongovernmental
organizations and gay businesses.
Body & Soul had been in operation since 2003 and attracted around 2,000
patrons on weekend nights. Its closure leaves Moscow, which has 10.5 million
residents, with one large gay dance bar.