Three hundred people gathered today at the Rond -Point Schuman in Brussels to protest against Vladimir Putin, President of Russia . The 32th EU-Russia summit , which starts tomorrow is an opportunity for the Rainbowhouse Brussels movement to denounce a repressive policy contrary to  and human rights , and especially homosexuals. The spokesman  François – Massoz Fouillien said: ” Since 2012, there is a whole serie of draconian laws that are not only against homosexuals but also again all those minorites who don’t follow the traditional framework of the Russian government. In June 2013, the Russian President signed a law which prohibits propaganda for ” non-traditional sex ‘ .”

According to Rainbowhouse these laws open the door for a return to an authorized government extremism. “We are witnessing scenes of extreme violence, imprisonment and systematic arrests. ” denounced François – Massoz Fouillien” .

Despite rassurances that Russia had given before the organization of the Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi , more repressive and discriminatory acts are ongoing.  The Russian authorities have limited the right to protest during the Games in Sochi : a presidential decree  initially banned all gatherings in the city from January 7 to March 21 , reviewed in order to also ban demonstrations at locations chosen by the Ministry of the Interior.

On January 18, a gay Russian was arrested for unfolding  a banner in the rainbow  colors during the passage of the Olympic torch in his city, Voronezh , a city located about 910 km north of Sochi. Pavel Lebedev has revealed that he was detained all day at the police station  and talked about the rampant homophobia that exists in Russia to explain his decision to show  the multicolored flag.

The Rainbowhouse motion requests that the issue of human rights comes back t to the agenda of the EU-Russia summit , especially at a major event like the Olympics , “The Sochigames  involve every nation, diversity and  minority. The European institutions must look after  respect for human rights as an issue that goes beyond  anything else. “

Mattia SOZIO