Russian LGBT activist murdered in St. Petersburg
Police in St. Petersburg are investigating the murder of an LGBT activist, found stabbed to death outside her home. It’s been speculated that anti-LGBT radicals, as well as her former fellow nationalists, could be responsible.
Elena Grigoryeva, 41, was found dead several hundred meters away from her home, hours after she was reportedly stabbed at least eight times. She was known for taking part in multiple protests for LGBT rights, and pacifist demonstrations.
Investigators are not sharing any theories on what happened or naming any suspects, so far. Grigoryeva was spotted socializing with several people shortly before she was murdered, according to reports in local media. One of those people has reportedly been found and detained, but it’s unclear whether he has anything to do with her murder.
Fellow activists have said Grigoryeva had been receiving death threats prior to her death, and claim the police ignored them. In a response to Russian media, St. Petersburg police confirmed she had lodged multiple complaints, but said they concerned household conflicts and had nothing life-threatening about them.
Human rights activist Dinar Idrisov, an acquaintance who broke the news of her death on social media, noted the wide range of political beliefs espoused by the controversial activist over the course of her life, “from nationalist to liberal to LGBT.”
Talking to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Idrisov, as well as another fellow activist, claimed Grigoryeva’s former compatriots in the nationalist movement were among those who sent her threats. She apparently maintained contact with them, despite her break with their ideology.
Grigoryeva was also reportedly on a black list maintained by a violent group of radical homophobes whose anonymous members promised to give gay people and pro-LGBT activists “dangerous and violent gifts.”
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