Russian neo-Nazi Maxim Martsinkevich dies in prison

A Russian neo-Nazi who spurred attacks on young gay men back in 2013 has died in prison. Maxim Martsinkevich, who was known as Tesak, which means cleaver or machete, reportedly took his own life.

Martsinkevich was serving a 10 year sentence in a hard labour camp for “inciting and fomenting cases of extremism”. His conviction was not over the many attacks he inspired on the the LGBTI community, but attacks he coordinated on drug dealers and a book he published which was found to incite hatred of ethnic minorities.

He had spent several spells in prison for inciting racial hated, having served three years for a 2007 conviction. After getting out of prison in 2010 he founded an organisation called Occupy Pedophilia, which saw followers pose on social media as teenagers to draw out men they believed were interest in sex with underage boys.

The men would then be confronted and filmed on video, often being assaulted by having urine poured over them. The movement did result in the arrest of one official.

A sub-group of the organisation named Occupy Gerontophilia also targeted young gay men who were sexually interested in older men. Videos of young gay men being beaten by the group were seen around the world, and political commentators drew a line between the vigilante action and recently introduced laws which forbade the public promotion of homosexuality.

Martsinkevich was reportedly about to be questioned about crimes he may have committed as back as 1999 at the time of his death. He was 36 years old.

OIP Staff, image (cropped) from DEN TV Moscow published under a Creative Commons license. 

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