MOSCOW – The worldwide LGBT community is waiting for an explanation on what happened to Russian LGBT leader Nikolai Alekseev, who was arrested Wednesday at a Moscow airport and vanished.

Alekseev, 32, is the head of Moscow Gay Pride and is well-known for his clashes with the city’s powerful mayor, Yury Luzhkov, over freedom of assembly and gay rights. Alekseev has filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights over the mayor’s banning of Pride for the past five years and the brutal treatment of the LGBT community when they assemble in public.

Most outside observers believe that Alekseev’s arrest has everything to do with his campaign for equal rights. He was arrested at the airport as he was about to leave for Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with the European Court.

Friends received a few text messages from Alekseev while he was still in detention at the airport, then the cell phone was confiscated.

Later, text messages sent from Alekseev’s cell phone claimed that he was exiled to Minsk, and the “news” was published in leading Russian newspapers.

But LGBT leaders in Minsk said there was no sign that Alekseev was even in Minsk, casting doubt on the validity of the text messages.

Today, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty is reporting that Alekseev has been freed after a two-day detention in the small town of Kashira, about 90 miles south of Moscow.

Source:

http://sdgln.com/news/2010/09/18/russian-lgbt-leader-apparently-safe-after-mysterious-detention