Translated material
Security forces tried to open a new criminal case against LGBT activist Yulia Tsvetkova
Yulia Tsvetkova, an LGBT activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, received a decision from the Investigative Committee to refuse to open a criminal case against the security forces who conducted a search at her place. The document also stated that the Investigative Committee decided not to initiate a case against Tsvetkova under the article on false denunciation (Article 306 of the Criminal Code). The activist herself told OVD-Info about this.
On November 20, 2019, Tsvetkova’s house was searched, during which about nine security officials were present, most of whom did not identify themselves. During the investigative actions, unknown persons were filming, the footage of which was released to the media. Tsvetkova filed a crime report with the UK and asked to bring to justice under the article on abuse of power (Article 286 of the Criminal Code) those responsible for distributing records from the search.
In February 2020, the investigator of the UK decided to refuse to initiate a criminal case. Tsvetkova's document has only now been read. In the decision to refuse, the investigator referred to the explanations of two police officers - the interrogating woman, who was in charge of the case against Tsvetkova, and the operative who participated in the search - both security officials stated that no one "used technical means" in the activist's house during the investigation.
Tsvetkova on Facebook expressed her disagreement with the position of the investigator: “How can police officers lie so obviously, despite the fact that even on the same video on the network you can see a crowd of people participating in the search.”
In the same decision to refuse, the investigator indicated that he did not find in the actions of Tsvetkova a crime under Article 306 of the Criminal Code (false denunciation), and he would not initiate a new criminal case against the LGBT activist.
- Yulia Tsvetkova, an LGBT activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, is accused of distributing pornography (paragraph “b” of part 3 of article 242 of the Criminal Code) because of the publication of pictures in the public “Vagina Monologues”.
- Tsvetkova is also being prosecuted under administrative charges: the court fined her twice for 50 and 75 thousand rubles under the article on propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors. The punishment was imposed in connection with publications in the Komsomolskaya Pravda. Intersection feminism”, “The Last Supper – LGBTQIAPP on Amur | 18" and "COLOR" on VKontakte.
- Before the criminal case, Tsvetkova managed the MERAK youth theater studio, which she had to close for security reasons. According to her, persecution of the pupils of the studio began in the city, and local media and bloggers spread false information about the theater.