In August, a report in MosNews.com, a website that covers Eastern Europe, said relations between Latvia and Belarus hit an all-time low after the gay porn flap that saw Belarus arrest a Latvian diplomat on charges that he allegedly appeared in and distributed gay sex films.
Authorities in Belarus set their sights on Latvian diplomat Reimo Smits, raiding his Minsk apartment in late July, after what they called a lengthy investigation.
Despite objections from the Latvian government and condemnation from the European Union, Belarus persisted in bringing charges against Smits for possessing and distributing pornographic content. But the Belarusian Prosecutor’s General Office has now said it will drop the charges. The office offered no explanation for its decision.
Amnesty International Belarus Chairman Viachaslau Bortnik said his government frequently uses allegations of homosexuality to discredit political opposition.
In the Smits case, footage of a sex tape that purported to show the diplomat in a gay orgy was aired on Belarusian national TV, a state-sponsored media source that Bortnik labeled a government propaganda tool.
“The government-controlled media tries to smear the opposition by associating it with homosexuality and their homophobic reports demonstrate that negative attitudes towards homosexuals exist at the highest levels of government,” Bortnik said.