A court in Moscow sentenced queer blogger Hilma Forks to three years in prison

The Simonovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced 29-year-old queer blogger Khilma Forks (Khilma Oleynyk) to three years in prison, finding him guilty of the criminal article of making and distributing pornographic materials on the Internet.

The Moscow prosecutor’s office announced the decision on Wednesday, noting that the blogger will serve his sentence in a general regime correctional facility.

According to the investigation, in November 2022 Hilma Forks “made pornographic materials with his participation using a mobile phone” and published them on the Internet, “Rain” reports. After the verdict was announced, he was taken into custody in the courtroom. The blogger spent all the time of the investigation under a restraining order, notes SOTA.

Lawyer Konstantin Erokhin reported that his client pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation.

The head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Myzulyna, asked to draw the attention of law enforcement agencies to Khilmy Forks. In December 2022, MP Yana Lantratova asked the prosecutor’s office and Roskomnadzor to check bloggers Forks and Dasha Koreyka for “propaganda” of LGBT and “transgenderism”, as well as for “broadcasting immoral behavior and insulting the feelings of believers.”

• 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.
• On November 30, 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, decided to ban the non-existent international LGBT movement and declare it extremist.