The Russian Supreme court has ruled “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization. The supreme court also declared the rainbow flag a forbidden. The Supreme Court ruling also allows the arbitrary prosecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people along with anyone who defends their rights or expresses solidarity with them.
Under Russian criminal law, a person found guilty of displaying extremist group symbols faces up to 15 days in detention for the first offense and up to four years in prison for a repeated offence and participating in or financing an extremist organization is punishable by up to 12 years in prison. The government or the authorities have the right to freeze their bank accounts and such people from extremist organization will be barred from running for the public offices. The Supreme court has denied all Russian LGBTQ persons and their allies directly impacted by the decision, any due process rights including refusing to disclose the text of the judgment or reasons of such a decision.
Criticisms have been pouring in from world wide. The United Nations High commission for the Human rights deplored the ruling stating that the law must never be used to perpetuate inequality and discrimination.
In the early 2023, the Russian parliament adopted legislations that violates a wide range of transgender people’s right. It bands health care, bans gender marked change of official documents, dissolving marriages of trans people and adoption and guardian ship over children. It even toughened the ‘gay propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations/ or preferences and link them to pedophilia and sex change. The law makers ban same sex marriages in the Russian Constitution and designated many LGBT organisations as ‘foreign agents’ – a term that in Russian connotes to spying and engagement to sabotage.
