The court fined a resident of Astrakhan for posting a rainbow flag on social media

A court in Astrakhan found local resident Oksana Savych guilty of displaying extremist symbols for publishing a photo with a rainbow LGBT flag on VKontakte. A fine of one thousand rubles was imposed on her.

The protocol says that 24-year-old Savich posted a photo with the image of a “rainbow” on a social network. In court, she explained that she published the picture in 2016, when the LGBT movement had not yet been banned in Russia.

At the same time, the Kirovsky Court of Astrakhan has an administrative case against Oksana Savych about LGBT propaganda. The material will be considered on April 11 – it faces a fine of 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

On the day Savych was sentenced because of the photo with the rainbow flag, the court also reviewed another report on the article about the demonstration of extremist symbols, but returned him to the police due to procedural violations. The details of this case are currently unknown.

• At the end of November, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the “International LGBT Movement” as an extremist organization and banned it. Human rights activists and lawyers emphasize that there are no clear criteria for what constitutes his propaganda.
• Since December 2022, the dissemination of positive information about homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism has been prohibited in Russia. Fines of up to 400,000 rubles for citizens and up to five million rubles for organizations are provided for this.