Gay commits suicide after treated rudely by police officers

A homosexual aged 27 killed himself after he was treated disrespectfully and insulted by two police officers, a representative of the Information Center “Gender Doc-M” Angela Frolov said in a news conference, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The young man was found hanged by his aunt. Angela Frolov said in the evening of December 6, two police officers asked the man and his friend to go out of a public toilet, discussed something with them and then went together into a patrol car. A member of “Gender Doc-M” Center joined them in the car. He said the police officers spoke rudely and insulted the sexual minorities. After the discussion, the young man went home, phoned his mother and apologized to her for being homosexual. Afterward, he hanged himself with a scarf. Angela Frolov said there are several places in Chisinau where the gays meet and make acquaintance. “The police officers know those places and go there to exert pressure on the homosexuals. They blackmail them, ask money from them, threaten to tell everyone about their sexual life and intimidate them,” said the representative of “Gender Doc-M”. The Center will sue the police officers who made the young man to commit suicide, if his parents or relatives do not do it. The other man, 40, who was with the 27-year-old man that night cannot be found. Angela Frolov said they made approaches to the Ministry of the Interior, but no steps were taken. Oleg Brega, a representative of the Nondiscrimination Coalition, said the police officers have a discriminatory attitude towards the sexual minorities. “They behave like cowherd and shepherds. We need a law that would punish such behavior,” said Oleg Brega. The Nondiscrimination Coalition pleads for a law that would protect the sexual minorities. The article about criminal punishment for homosexual relations was removed from the Penal Code of Moldova in 1995. About 4-5% of the global population are gays and lesbians.”Gender Doc-M” has 2,000 LGBT members, but the number of such persons in Moldova is much higher. According to Article 150 of the Penal Code, a person who makes another person to commit or attempt suicide by persecution, insulting and defamation is .liable to up to four years in jail.