In St. Petersburg, an Orthodox activist was sentenced for attacking a picket against homophobia

In mid-November 2013, it became known that a court in St. Petersburg had sentenced Orthodox activist Gleb Likhotkin . He was found guilty under paragraph “a” of Part 1 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism committed with the use of objects used as weapons).

The court found that on May 17, 2012, G. Likhotkin wounded a participant in a picket against homophobia taking place in Petrovsky Park using the Udar self-defense weapon (analogous to a gas weapon).

The defendant did not admit guilt. According to him, he was aiming at a balloon with the blasphemous inscription, in his opinion, “Christ loves men and women equally,” and accidentally hit Boris Romanov, who was holding the balloon.

According to the defendant, he did not know that the LGBT action was coordinated, “and until the last he hoped that it was a misunderstanding.”

The court sentenced G. Likhotkin to a year of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year. In addition, the defendant must pay the victim 10 thousand rubles as compensation for moral damage.

The victim’s side insisted that Likhotkin’s actions showed signs of inciting hatred towards LGBT people, but the court did not see such signs. Sources

• An Orthodox activist was given a suspended sentence for an attack on an LGBT picket // Lenta.ru. 2013. November 11.
• In the Petrogradsky district, a sentence was passed on a city resident who committed hooliganism because of a blasphemous inscription on a balloon “Christ loves men and women equally” // Website of the St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office. 2013. November 11.