A court in Siberia handed down Russia’s first-ever prison sentence under the country’s ban on the so-called “international LGBT movement,” the independent news website Mediazona reported Wednesday.
Russia’s Supreme Court outlawed the “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization in November 2023, adding it to the country’s lists of terrorist and banned organizations.
On Jan. 30, the Yaysky District Court in the Kemerovo region convicted an unnamed individual of “LGBT extremism,” sentencing them to six years in a maximum-security prison, according to Mediazona.
The individual was already serving an 18-year sentence for child sex abuse, and the court combined the penalties into a total sentence of 15 years.
“While serving the sentence, the resident of the town of Guryevsk… involved Russian citizens in the activities of the ‘international LGBT movement’ extremist organization,” state media quoted the regional Federal Security Service (FSB) office as saying Wednesday.
LGBTQ+ rights in Russia have steadily eroded since President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning “LGBT propaganda” toward minors in 2013.
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