Igor Viktorovich Kochetkov (born 13 May 1970) is a Russian gay rights activist who heads the Russian LGBT Network.

Igor Kochetkov

Kochetkov has been active in the opposition to the 2013 Russian law that bans promotion of homosexuality to minors.[1] He has blamed the law for legitimizing and increasing violence against gays.[2][3]

In September 2013, Kochetkov along with other Russian human rights activists met with US President Barack Obama in Saint Petersburg.[4]

Along with Alexey Davydov he was named one of the world's 100 top thinkers in 2013 by the magazine Foreign Policy "for fighting Russia's state-sponsored homophobia".[3]

Kochetkov was along with Frank Mugisha, Sunil Babu Pant and ILGA nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Labour Parliamentarians Anette Trettebergstuen and Håkon Haugli.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ Miriam Elder (30 November 2012) Russian parliament to consider federal anti-gay law The Guardian.
  2. ^ Alec Luhn (1 September 2013) Russian anti-gay law prompts rise in homophobic violence The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b Alexey Davydov and Igor KochetkovForeign Policy. Retrieved 1 October 2014. Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Liza Dobkina and Matt Spetalnick (6 September 2013) Obama meets Russian activists but avoids criticizing Kremlin Reuters.
  5. ^ Kristian Berg Harpviken Nobel Peace Prize 2014: PRIO Director's Speculations PRIO. Retrieved 1 October 2014