The Central District Court of Orenburg sentenced three defendants in the Pose bar case to between two years and three months and seven years in a general-regime penal colony. The court’s press service reported the ruling.
According to a correspondent for the outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, the longest sentence was given to the bar’s owner, Vyacheslav Khasanov, who received seven years in prison. The bar’s administrator, Diana Kamilyanova, was sentenced to six years and three months, while art director Alexander Klimov received two years and three months.
Investigators said the defendants, knowing that the “international LGBT movement” had been banned in Russia, held events at the bar “united by the common theme of demonstrating affiliation with persons of non-traditional sexual orientation for an indefinite circle of visitors.” The case concerns drag-show parties.
Khasanov, Kamilyanova, and Klimov all pleaded not guilty. In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered Khasanov to pay 1 million rubles, describing the sum as “criminal income from the activities of an extremist organization.”
The court also banned all three convicted defendants from working in the entertainment and food service sectors for up to three years.
Khasanov, Kamilyanova, and Klimov were detained in March 2024 and placed in pretrial detention. Several weeks earlier, security forces had raided Pose together with representatives of the Orenburg branch of the “Russian Community.” It later became known that Klimov and Kamilyanova were released from pretrial detention and placed under house arrest.
Pose opened in 2021 and hosted themed parties. The club described itself as Orenburg’s “first themed venue,” and after the adoption of the law on “LGBT propaganda,” it began presenting itself as a “parody bar-theater” and a “night bar with a show program.” As a precaution, staff did not publish the club’s address on social media.