Peter Tatchell flies out of Russia instead of attending court following his arrest after LGBT protest

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has flown home to the UK and will not attend a court appearance following his LGBT protest in Russia.

Mr Tatchell was detained in Moscow on Thursday after staging a demonstration outside the Kremlin where he held up a poster attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The poster read: “Putin fails to act against Chechnya torture of gay people.”

The campaigner was released on bail after being held for more than an hour and was told to appear in court on June 26.

He was told he was in breach of a Russian law put in place for the World Cup banning unsanctioned protests of any scale.

But on Monday he was told he would be able to return home despite the upcoming court date.

Posting a photo of himself on a plane on Twitter, he wrote: “Job done. Goodbye Moscow.

“No problem at immigration despite my scheduled court appearance on June 26.

“It was such an honour to support the heroic Russian LGBT+ activists.”

This was Mr Tatchell’s sixth visit to the country, where he said he has twice been arrested before.

Following his arrest, the campaigner received an outpouring of support.

Political commentator Jane Merrick tweeted: “Peter Tatchell is a hero.”

Novelist Barbara Nadel wrote: “I love Peter Tatchell. He's brave and committed and he's taking on a regime that that is truly toxic.”

Andrew King said: “Respect to Peter Tatchell for having the courage to stand up to #Putin.”

Mr Tatchell was one of around 30 people who originally founded the UK’s first ever gay pride march, which took place in London in July 1972.

In 2012 three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot were each jailed for two years today after they were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for staging an anti-Putin protest in a church.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were convicted for holding a "punk prayer" in Moscow’s main Russian Orthodox cathedral and were waiting to find out if they would be jailed.

The conviction led to protests in support of the rockers across the globe.