Translated material
Drawings of vulvas and pictures of same-sex families: how the trial of Yulia Tsvetkova developed
The trial of artist and activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur Yulia Tsvetkova has been going on for three years. A criminal case has been opened against her for distributing pornography (clause “b”, part 3 of Article 242 of the Criminal Code) due to drawings of vulvas in the public page “Vagina Monologues”, as well as four administrative cases of promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors due to pictures with same-sex families. We tell you how the artist is being persecuted.
The persecution of the artist and femme activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur began back in 2019, but the case of Yulia Tsvetkova became widely known only in 2020. For some time the artist was under house arrest. In March 2020, it was replaced with a written undertaking not to leave. In June 2020, Tsvetkova was charged with distributing pornography , and then the case was sent for further investigation several times.
In total, four administrative protocols were drawn up against Tsvetkova for promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors due to the administration of a public page on VKontakte and the publication of images on LGBT and body-positive topics on social networks. Only two of them eventually reached the court; for both, the court imposed fines of 50 thousand rubles.
In addition, the artist is a defendant in an administrative lawsuit to close the public page “Vagina Monologues” due to the fact that pornographic images are allegedly distributed there, and is also a defendant in a criminal case for the distribution of pornography.
The exact reason why a criminal case was initiated is unknown. Perhaps it was either Tsvetkova’s series of works “A Woman is Not a Doll,” which she published on social networks. In the pictures from this series, the artist schematically depicted naked women, accompanying the drawings with the captions “Living women have fat,” “Living women have cellulite,” “Living women have periods.” However, the immediate cause for criminal prosecution was five stylized images of vulvas from the public page “Vagina Monologues”, aimed at removing the taboo from female physiology.
At the end of March 2021, during the preliminary hearing, the court closed Tsvetkova’s trial to journalists and listeners, citing the fact that “during the consideration of the case, intimate aspects of the lives of the participants may be disclosed” and “materials classified as pornographic by the prosecution will be considered.”
“Nothing foreshadowed that the process would be closed,” notes Tsvetkova’s lawyer Alexander Pikhovkin. — No legal grounds were provided for closing the process. The court, apparently, simply considered that our society is not mature and conscious enough to listen in an open trial to a dispute about the admissibility of public discussions regarding women's health and female physiology. As a result of the closure of the trial, the public was deprived of the opportunity to learn first-hand that the victims did not consider themselves victims, the witnesses did not see what they were testifying about, and the forensic examination was carried out by an expert with an outstanding criminal record.”
The lawyer believes that the trial of Tsvetkova should have been completed by the end of 2021. However, right before the end of the judicial investigation, the judge ordered a second art expert examination of the case, which will analyze the content of the public page “Vagina Monologues” for the presence of pornography. A previous examination found signs of pornography in him. “Formally, this was due to the fact that the examination available in the case was compromised by the expert’s criminal record . (One of the authors of the first examination, art critic Tatyana Troitskaya, had an outstanding criminal record - OVD-Info ). In fact, in my opinion, [the delay in the trial] is an admission that the prosecution was faced with the question of the inconsistency of the prosecution against Yulia Tsvetkova.” , adds Pikhovkin.
Tsvetkova’s mother, Anna Khodyreva, believes that the trial of her daughter is being deliberately delayed, first of all, understanding that the activist has a good lawyer who flies to every hearing from Moscow. Tickets alone cost a lot of money. “Those who are in charge of the case know how much tickets from Moscow to Komsomolsk-on-Amur cost. When we looked at tickets during the New Year season, the prices were 260 thousand rubles. Well, who will fly to us for that kind of money?” - Khodyreva complains.
She adds that by delaying the process, the investigation puts a lot of pressure psychologically. Both she and her daughter were already very tired. “In 2021 there was still work, it was generally quite fun. But now it’s not fun at all, because you realize that for the second year you can’t move, you can’t work. It's almost like a prison, only in the city. That is, nothing changes around you. It's like tearing off a cat's tail a couple of millimeters at a time. We have trials all the time: every hearing is something special. You come, listen to all sorts of nasty things, and then go to court again. And you are constantly waiting for searches. They constantly scare us,” adds the artist’s mother Anna Khodyreva.
Chronology of the development of the case of Yulia Tsvetkova
November 20, 2019 - criminal case and search
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Police detained Yulia Tsvetkova as she exited the train in Komsomolsk-on-Amur when she was returning from St. Petersburg. There, the artist participated in the feminist festival “Eva’s Ribs,” which was dedicated to documentary film, theater and performance.
Tsvetkova was taken to the police department, where she was informed that a criminal case had been opened against her for distributing pornography on the Internet. On the same day, searches were carried out at the activist’s home and at the children’s theater studio “MERAK” , where she previously worked, as a result of which all equipment, documents and brochures on gender topics were confiscated from her. After this, Tsvetkova was released on her own recognizance.
November 22, 2019
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The police detained Tsvetkova on the way to Khabarovsk, where she was going to visit friends for the weekend. The formal reason is violation of the undertaking not to leave.
November 23, 2019 – house arrest
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The court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur sent Tsvetkova under house arrest until mid-March 2020.
November 28, 2019 - bribe and interrogation of a minor
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A minor, a former member of the MERAK theater studio, was summoned for questioning in Tsvetkova’s case. According to Tsvetkova’s mother Anna Khodyreva, investigators tried to force the child to admit that he was a victim in the case against her daughter. “They pulled the child out of class, took him into a classroom where five people were sitting: the school bosses, the director, the head teacher, a psychologist and a couple of police officers, and started asking about Yulia. No matter how they were tortured, no matter what they were offered, no matter how they were threatened. They still said that they were not victims,” says Tsvetkova’s mother Anna Khodyreva. “They were required to say that Yulia was inclining them towards LGBT people. I don’t know how you can persuade someone. They also asked something about our performance , but I didn’t specify that.”
Later, unknown persons on the phone offered to give Khodyreva a bribe to stop the proceedings. “At first they offered [to give a bribe] in a telephone conversation, and then I also received several text messages. Moreover, the amount of the bribe was not even indicated anywhere. They promised that if I gave a bribe, they would make sure that the case was closed at the investigation stage, so that it would not go to the prosecutor’s office. I didn’t attach any importance to this then, because I wasn’t going to give any bribe and didn’t think at all that the matter could go to court. It seemed like all this was some kind of nonsense,” recalls the artist’s mother.
November 29, 2019 - first administrative case
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An administrative protocol was drawn up against Tsvetkova on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors (Part 2 of Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code). The reason for this was two public pages on VKontakte, which were administered by the artist: “The Last Supper - LGBTQIAPP on Amur | 18+" and the group dedicated to feminism "Komsomolskaya Pravda. Intersectional feminism."
December 11, 2019 - first fine
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In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a court fined Tsvetkova 50 thousand rubles on charges of promoting non-traditional sexual relations among minors on the basis of previously drawn up protocols against her.
January 17, 2020 - second administrative case
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Another administrative protocolwas drawn up against Tsvetkova under the article on promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors because of her post about LGBT families in the “Tsvet” public page on VKontakte. The published picture shows two same-sex families with children, and at the bottom there is a caption: “Family - where they love.”
March 16, 2020 - end of house arrest
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The Higher Court changed Tsvetkova's preventive measure in a criminal case for distributing pornography on the Internet. The artist was released from house arrest, having taken a written undertaking not to leave the place.
July 2, 2020 - third administrative case
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A new administrative protocol was drawn up against Tsvetkova on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors. According to the police, the artist posted in the public page “The Last Supper - LGBTQIAPP on Amur | 18+” “information aimed at developing in minors non-traditional sexual attitudes, the attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relationships, a distorted idea of the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships, or the imposition of information about non-traditional sexual relationships that arouse interest in such relationships.”
July 7, 2020 - fourth administrative case
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Another administrative case was opened against Tsvetkova for promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors using the media or the Internet. The reason was the link to the “Let me choose” flash mob published by the activist on Facebook. It was a response to a video dedicated to the vote on amendments to the Constitution, which conveyed the idea: it is better for a child to stay in an orphanage than to end up in an LGBT family. Tsvetkova attached an image of a same-sex family with children to her post.
July 10, 2020 – second fine
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Tsvetkova was fined 75 thousand rubles under the article on promoting non-traditional sexual relations among minors. The reason was her image of same-sex families with children in the “Color” public page on VKontakte and a drawing with multi-colored cats in the group “The Last Supper - LGBTQIAPP on Amur | 18+".
August 20, 2020 – reduction of the fine
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Tsvetkova had her last fine reduced under the article on promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors. Instead of 75 thousand rubles, she was forced to pay 50 thousand. The reason for the reduction in the fine was not specified in the court decision.
September 23, 2020
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The prosecutor's office did not approve the indictment in Tsvetkova's criminal case: the case was returned for further investigation.
October 16, 2020 - appeal to the ECHR
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Tsvetkova appealed to the ECHR in connection with the fines imposed on her under the article on promoting non-traditional sexual relations among minors. The artist noted that the authorities violated her right to a fair trial, the right to respect for private life, the right to freedom of opinion, and also violated the ban on discrimination on any grounds.
May 24, 2021 - ban on the public “Vagina Monologues”
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The Central District Court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur banned the dissemination of information from the Vagina Monologues community. The resolution stated that the public “identified information that is harmful to the health, moral and spiritual education of minors.” It was about stylized artistic depictions of female genital organs.
October 27, 2021 - lifting of the ban
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The Khabarovsk Regional Court overturned the decision of the court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to close the public page “Vagina Monologues”, agreeing with the defense’s arguments that Tsvetkova was in fact deprived of access to justice. “In general, there were a number of violations,” notes Tsvetkova’s mother Anna Khodyreva. “Firstly, the decision to ban was made on the basis of an examination that was taken from a closed criminal trial, which is already illegal. Secondly, criminal law is higher than administrative law. The administrative process cannot proceed until there is a decision on the criminal one.” As a result, the case was sent for a new trial.
March 31, 2021 - closing of the process from listeners
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During the preliminary hearing, the court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur closed Tsvetkova’s trial to journalists and listeners.
January 18, 2022 - re-examination
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The judge ordered a second art examination in Tsvetkova’s case at the Center for Sociocultural Expertise. The artist’s mother notes that this center has been involved in politically motivated criminal cases for almost ten years: for example, its experts conducted research on the cases of Pussy Riot, historian Yuri Dmitriev and Jehovah’s Witnesses . In addition, the research of this center formed the basis of the lawsuit to liquidate Memorial.
February 7, 2022 - repeated ban on the public “Vagina Monologues”
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The Central District Court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur again satisfied the administrative claim of the prosecutor’s office to ban the public “Vagina Monologues”. Last time, the decision to block was based on an examination that was compromised by the expert’s outstanding criminal record. The examination was carried out as part of a criminal case, and as a result, the judge ordered a re-examination of materials from the public domain. This examination, according to Tsvetkova’s lawyer, will be presented in court only on February 22.
“As for the reasoned court decision in the administrative case [on blocking the “Vagina Monologues” public page], we don’t have it on hand yet. Only the operative part of the decision was announced, and its reasoned version will be made only on February 17. It is very interesting how they this time explained the harmfulness of the public and the presence of pornography in it. They did not have any other evidence [except for the compromised examination]. The decision is obviously unfair, and we will appeal it,” notes Tsvetkova’s lawyer Alexander Pikhovkin.