A queer adult content creator who was detained in Daghestan at the end of May is reportedly being denied access to HIV medication. Rights groups report that he was misled into travelling to Daghestan, and then used to identify other queer people. 

Matvey Volodni, a porn blogger from Moscow who posts under the handle USSRboy, reportedly began a ‘Caucasian tour’ on 23 May with the intention of filming adult videos in the North Caucasus. 

Volodin was officially detained on charges of hooliganism on 26 May, accused of using obscene language while in the centre of the Daghestani capital Makhachkala. In court, Volodin reportedly admitted his guilt. 

However, local Telegram channels have reported that Volodin was detained two days earlier, and his phone confiscated. After he stopped communicating, friends and local rights groups reported him as missing.  

The North Caucasus SOS Crisis Group (NCSOS), which works with queer people in the North Caucasus, told OC Media that Volodin was fraudulently invited to Daghestan. 

‘Initially, Matvey came to Daghestan at the invitation of “friends” whom he met on the internet. They rented an apartment for him. It later turned out that they were actually police officers. They beat Matvey, took his phone and corresponded with different people on his behalf’, the group said.

They added that law enforcement officers had identified more queer people through Volodin. 

‘They also invited Daghestanis to the apartment supposedly on a date, and they installed hidden cameras in the apartment. In such a way, they managed to photograph at least five people. After a week of such “cooperation”, Matvey was detained and sent to a detention centre for 10 days under administrative charges of hooliganism’, they said.

Volodin was released from the detention centre on 5 June, but immediately detained by people in civilian clothes at the centre’s exit. According to NCSOS, the men were employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism, who refused to let Volodin speak to his lawyer or relatives. 

A day later, NCSOS announced that Volodin was in a pre-trial detention centre, on charges of creating and distributing pornography. The group later announced that Volodin had been remanded to pre-trial detention for almost three months, until 4 August. 

The group added that Volodin had been refused access to HIV medication, citing the Parni+ Telegram channel, which noted that doctors who had examined Volodin stated that he needed immediate treatment. 

‘Neither in the detention centre nor now is Matvey allowed to receive medicine. There is an extremely high risk that Matvey will not be able to receive it in the coming months’, the group said.