A German judge questioned a gay couple fighting deportation to Russia about their sex lives for four hours because he did not believe they were gay.
Pavel Tupikov, 41, and his partner, Igor Popialkovskii, 32, are fighting to stay in Germany because it is not safe for them in Russia.
A neighbor and a police officer allegedly blackmailed the couple in Russia, where life for LGBTI people is very hard.
‘My ex-boyfriend has been stabbed,’ Popialkovkii told Wochenblatt.
‘All our friends live there in great fear.
‘There are propaganda programs on Russian television where the call Europe ‘Gayropa’.
Tupikov attended a hearing at the Administrative Court of Regensburg, Bavaria on June 26 where he had to answer invasive questions about his sex life. He was appealing a deportation order from the Federal Office for Migration (BAMF).
‘I had to talk about sex only for four hours,’ he told Wochenblatt.
‘He (the judge) asked me when I had my first time, with whom and how it was. He wanted to know everything.
‘The judge also said he does not believe that we are a couple.
‘How can I prove that we are a couple? Should we kiss in court?’
Desperate times
The men are struggling to cover the legal fees of their appeal cases, but would rather live poor than go back to Russia. Human rights group Amnesty International has taken up their case.
‘We often have to go hungry because we can not buy food,’ Popialkovkii said.
But both men hope to build their careers in Germany and working as cleaners for a long time.
Popialkovkii will soon start an apprenticeship as tax accountant and Tupikov wants to work as a teacher.
Tupikov’s appeal continues on July 25.
Igor and Pavel are also victims of political development. While Germany alone has absorbed more than a million people by 2016, the pressure before the September elections is increasing the number of asylum seekers who are not from war zones.
