The neo-Nazi leader of a homophobic group in Russia was sentenced to five years in prison for making a video of himself torturing and beating a gay Iraqi man. However, the charges had nothing to do with the brutality of the video.
Maxim Martsinkevich, who calls his organization "Occupy Pedophilia," drags a naked man out of a shower, beats him, shaves his head and paints a rainbow on it in the offensive video, Newsweek reports.
He was convicted of making statements that lead to "incitement of hatred or hostility and humiliation of human dignity," according to Gawker, but was never charged for the violent attacks on the man that were recorded.
Many say Russia's 2013 law banning "gay propaganda" is to blame. Martsinkevich, who received his five-year sentence in Moscow on Friday, has reportedly said that the videos are all about "curing" gays of homosexuality.
"They have been given carte blanche for all their actions by these laws," Gay Pride Russia founder Nikolai Alekseyev told The Atlantic last year. "They have received signals from the highest officials in the state — the Duma, the president — that basically you can do whatever you want if it concerns gay people because they are not first-class citizens; they are second-class or even third-class."
The video was made in Ukraine, according to Gawker. Martsinkevich allegedly lured the man there by promising him he could have sex with a 15-year-old boy, according to reports. While torturing the man, the neo-Nazi also known as "Hatchet" forced a "confession" of pedophilia.
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