Trans in Russia: Tricked into conversion therapy in Siberia

On a remote farm in Siberia, a man handed Ada a knife. In front of them was a pig.

“Cut it off,” he said. “If you want to go ahead with the operation, you need to understand what castration means.”

Ada was 23 and transgender – she had been tricked into going to a conversion therapy centre after coming out to her family.

She says that earlier in the summer of 2021, a relative asked her to accompany her to Novosibirsk, where she was due to undergo major heart surgery.

Ada says a man met them at the airport and after a long drive, the car suddenly stopped, Ada’s relative jumped out, the driver turned to Ada, demanded she hand over her smartwatch and phone, and told her bluntly: “Now we’re going to cure you of your perversion.”

“It was only when a parcel of warm clothes arrived two weeks later that I realised that I wasn’t just there for a fortnight or a month,” she adds, saying she was forced to take testosterone, pray and do manual labour, such as chopping wood.

Confronted with the pig, she had a panic attack and didn’t do what she had been told.

Nine months later, she managed to escape. Someone had left a phone lying around which she used to call the police.

They sent officers to the centre, who said Ada had to be allowed to leave as she was being held against her will.

The BBC contacted the centre but the person we spoke to denied all knowledge of conversion therapy programmes. We also contacted Ada’s relative but have not had a response.