Overview
- The St Petersburg City Court designated the Russian LGBT Network an extremist organization and ordered a nationwide ban after a Justice Ministry lawsuit.
- The extremist label makes support for the group a potential crime under Russia’s anti-extremism code, putting staff, volunteers and donors at risk of prison.
- The court held the proceedings behind closed doors at the request of the Ministry of Justice.
- Amnesty International called the move a deliberate strategy to weaponize homophobia, noting recent extremist rulings against Coming Out, the LGBT Resource Centre in Yekaterinburg, the Moscow Community Centre for LGBT+ Initiatives, Irida and the media project Parni+.
- The crackdown now reaches culture and tech, with courts fining streaming sites Kinopoisk, Ivi and Wink up to 3.5 million rubles and the game platform Roblox 8 million rubles for LGBT-themed content.