Nikolay Alexeyev

Nikolay Alexandrovich Alexeyev (also spelled as Alekseyev, Alekseev, or Alexeev (Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Алексе́ев) born 23 December 1977) is a Russian LGBT rights activist, lawyer and journalist.

Born and raised in Moscow, in 1995, Nikolay Alexeyev graduated from high-school with the advanced study of English language.

In the summers of 1996, 1997, and 1998, he worked as an intern in the Secretariat of the Russian Constitutional Court in Moscow.

As an assistant to the judge, he prepared case materials and confinements for the decisions of the Court.

In 1998, being a third year student of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Alexeyev released his first book Citizen's Complaints to the Constitutional Court.

His blog reports that since the year 2000, he visited 49 countries.

He took part in Gay Pride parades in different cities of the world: London, Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Turin, Vancouver, Sao Paulo and Warsaw.

In 2000, he graduated with honors from the Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in Public Administration (previously known as the Institute of Public Administration and Social Studies).

During his studies, Alexeyev became interested in the Constitutional Law in Russia.

Between November 2000 to February 2001, he worked as a special correspondent for the Russian daily newspaper Sevodnya.

The paper which belonged to Russian oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky was closed in April 2001 after state-owned Gazprom-Media took full control over it.

After graduating from the University, Alexeyev stayed at his department to continue postgraduate studies in constitutional, municipal and administrative law.

In November 2001, he was forced to leave the Postgraduate Program of the Moscow State University, Department of Public Administration (Legal Fundamentals of State Regulation Department) due to the non-acceptance of his research of the legal status of sexual minorities as his thesis.

This research was published in his 2002 book "Legal Regulation of the Status of Sexual Minorities: Russia in the Light of International Organisations' Practice and Legislation of Other Countries".

In June 2002, Alexeyev published his second book "Gay Marriage: Family Status of Same-Sex Couples in International, National and Local Law" which summarized legal situation in terms of the recognition of same-sex unions around the world.

Nikolay Alexeyev appealed to Court against the University claiming he was victim of sexual orientation discrimination.

In October 2002, Nikolay Alexeyev authored a report titled "Curbing Prostitution: Western Experience and International Law" ordered by former State Duma Deputy Alexander Barannikov.

The report was supposed to help the deputy's initiative to legalize prostitution in Russia.

Finally, the deputy was in minority in his party and no bill was introduced in the Parliament.

Since 2005, Nikolay Alexeyev is known as the founder and chief organizer of Moscow Pride, which is officially banned year after year by city authorities.

Together with the activists of his advocate group Russian LGBT Human Rights Project GayRussia.Ru, Nikolay Alexeyev attempted to organize a large number of public actions to defend the rights of sexual minorities in Russia.

For five years, none of the LGBT public actions for which he and his fellow activists required the permission of the Russian authorities was allowed to take place.

On 10 June 2005, Moscow's Nikulinskiy District Court dismissed his claim.

The decision was confirmed on appeal by Moscow City Court in September 2005.

The Strasbourg-based court unanimously ruled that by banning three Moscow Prides in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Russia breached three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 2007, Alexeyev produced the documentary Moscow Pride '06, which features the events around the first Moscow Gay Pride Festival from 25–28 May 2006.

It also contains footage of Alexeyev's participation in the Gay Parade in Sao Paulo in May 2008 and images of his arrest during first Moscow Pride on 27 May 2006.

In May 2006, Alexeyev filed his first complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France which was registered under #9689/06.

This documentary was included in the official programme of Berlin Film Festival in "Panorama" section in February 2007.

Alexeyev and film director Vladimir Ivanov have accumulated hundreds of hours of Russian LGBT events footage.

The 2008 documentary film East/West - Sex & Politics, by director Jochen Hick, included in the official programme of Berlin Film Festival in "Panorama" section in February 2008, follows Alexeyev's attempts to organise the 2007 Moscow Gay Pride Festival.

Canadian award-winning documentary film by Bob Christie Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride features the organisation of the third Moscow Pride in 2008 by Nikolay Alexeyev and his fellow activists.

In June 2009, French TV channel France 4 aired the programme "Global Resistance" featuring an 11-minute report about the activities of Nikolay Alexeyev and his fellow activists from Russia and Belarus organizing first Slavic Gay Pride in Moscow on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final on 16 May 2009.

On 21 October 2010, Nikolay Alexeyev won the first ever case at the European Court of Human Rights on LGBT human rights violations in Russia.

On 1 October 2010, he was for the first time ever authorized to organize a sanctioned picketing in Moscow with the aim to call for economic boycott of Swiss Air Lines due to its role in the arrest of Nikolay Alexeyev at Moscow Domodedovo airport on 15 September 2010.

Alexeyev is fluent in Russian and English and also has a grasp of French.

As of November 2010, the case was not considered by the Court and not communicated to Russian authorities.

In January 2011, the Russian Government asked the Court to refer the case for re-consideration to the Grand Chamber.

On 11 April 2011, five judges panel of the European Court dismissed Russia's appeal and the verdict on illegality of Moscow Pride bans came into force the same day.

2011 Australian documentary by Logan Mucha features the attempts to organize Slavic Gay Pride in Minsk, Belarus, in May 2010 and the role played by Alexeyev.