Anti-Gay Russian extremist group leader back in Russia under arrest

Martsinkevich in Havana, Cuba, December 2013

By Brody Levesque | MOSCOW -- The leader of a Russian anti-gay extremist group with ties to the country's neo-nazi ultra-nationalist movement is back on Russian soil after being deported by Cuban authorities Monday.
A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Security services told LGBTQ Nation that Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich, also known by his street nickname “Tesak,” arrived at the Russian capital's Sheremetyevo Airport after a direct flight from Havana and was immediately detained by Russian law enforcement.

Martsinkevich had been formally charged and arrested in absentia December 13, 2013, by Moscow's Kuntsevskiy court, on charges of committing a crime under Art. 282 of the Russian Criminal Code (incitement of hatred or enmity and human dignity with violence) for videos that his anti-gay Russian group “Occupy Pedophilia” had posted to the internet.
Martsinkevich fled Russia this past November to the Ukraine where he had committed several incidents of a similar nature including a highly publicised incident against a former contestant of the Ukrainian franchise of the British talent competition, “The X Factor,” who was attacked and physically abused by Martsinkevich and other members of his group.

Yuvlena Frolyak, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Sevastopol, told LGBTQ Nation that her office had also issued an arrest warrant based on the criminal complaint filed by the victim.

After Ukrainian officials charged Martsinkevich, he apparently fled Kyiv in late December where he was in hiding, to Havana, Cuba, where on January 17 he was detained by Cuban law enforcement officials for violating that country's immigration laws based in part on an Interpol "wanted" arrest and detain warrant from Russian law enforcement.
His identity was confirmed via fingerprints according to the Russian FSB source, who told LGBTQ Nation that the Cubans had also seized passports and other allegedly falsified identity documents not in his name. Also at the time of his arrest a laptop computer, mobile phone, and other equipment belonging to him were seized as evidence. 

Martsinkevich is no stranger to the Russian legal system. In July 2007, he was arrested and then sentenced to three years in prison under the same Criminal Code Article 282, part 1, when, as a leader of the far-right extremist group Format18, he had orchestrated the manufacture and sale of videos with scenes depicting the torture of homeless people and Asian guest workers.

The group also held a “mock” hanging of an alleged drug dealer from the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan.

Martsinkevich was released in December 2010, sometime after which he formed his current group, “Occupy Paedophilia,” which has produced numerous videos on the Russian social media giant VK.com as well as YouTube, documenting the violent and homophobic harassment of men the group claims were seeking to have sex with minor boys.

Pending the outcome at trial, he faces a possible sentence of 3–5 years imprisonment.