Russia has been cracking down on LGBTQ rights for more than a decade, with a series of bills introduced since 2013 targeting what the Kremlin calls “gay propaganda.”
But after ordering the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has stepped up its campaign against “degrading” Western influence, what rights advocates see as an attempt to justify the war.
According to Russian media and rights groups, this is the first publicly known case of Russian authorities penalizing people based on a court ruling outlawing LGBTQ activities as extremism. .
At least three people who displayed rainbow-colored items were jailed or fined.
A Supreme Court ruling in November banned what the government called an LGBTQ “movement” operating in Russia, labeling it an extremist organization.
The ruling was part of a crackdown on LGBTQ people in the increasingly conservative country, where “traditional family values” have been the cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin's 24-year rule.
Russian law prohibits displaying symbols of extremist organizations in public, and LGBTQ rights advocates say those displaying rainbow flags or other items are targeted by authorities. It warns that this is a possibility.
On Monday, a court in Saratov, a city 453 miles south-east of Moscow, fined artist and photographer Inna Mosina 1,500 rubles (£13) for multiple Instagram posts depicting rainbow flags. , Russian independent news site Mediazona reported.
The lawsuit included the full text of the Supreme Court's decision that established the rainbow flag as an “international” symbol of the LGBTQ “movement.”
According to reports, Mosina and her defense team have maintained her innocence. She said the posts were published before the verdict was handed down and were made at a time when authorities did not consider rainbow flags to be extremist, and her lawyer said she had been accused of fraud before the verdict took effect. It said a police report had been filed regarding the alleged conduct.
However, the court ordered her to pay a fine.
Last week, a court in Nizhny Novgorod, about 398 miles east of Moscow, sentenced Anastasia Yershova to five days in prison for wearing rainbow-colored earrings in public, Mediazona also reported. .
And in Volgograd, 859 miles south of Moscow, a court fined a man 1,000 rubles (£9) for allegedly posting a rainbow flag on social media, local court officials reported on Thursday. The man identified himself only as Artyom P. Kevin.
