Popular Moscow gay club Central Station, which has been subject to a series of attacks, has reportedly shut down, Queer Russia says.
According to the report, the landlord cites an arbitration court ruling as the reason for the club’s closure, but Central Station owners say the club was allowed to remain in the building until 2017.
Club CEO Andrei Lischinsky resigned in February, noting that the venue had been raided several times in a bid to intimidate patrons and that he was “tired of fighting.”
In November, Queer Russia reported that shots were fired in one attack on the club. A week after that incident, Central Station came under attack again with the release of an unspecified “harmful gas” on the premises. Many of the 500 people who were in the club at the time required medical attention, Queer Russia said.
In an interview with The Washington Blade in January, an ex-manager of the club, Arkady Gyngazov, said he is planning to seek asylum in the United States because he fears for his life.