In Russia, for the first time, a person was arrested for demonstrating “LGBT symbols”

A court in Nizhny Novgorod sentenced a local resident to five days of administrative arrest for displaying “LGBT symbols.” She was found guilty of publicly displaying the symbols of an extremist organization (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) because of her rainbow earrings. This was reported by the human rights project “Egida”.

In turn, the Mediazona publication, referring to the court file, clarifies that the arrested person’s name is Anastasia Ershova.

According to her lawyer, in its decision the court did not specify which extremist symbol the girl was demonstrating, but formally referred to the Supreme Court ruling recognizing the “international LGBT movement” as extremist.

“The defense insisted on the absence of an offense as such and, accordingly, on the absence of elements, as well as on an error of perception - none of the interrogated employees who drew up the protocol could also name what kind of symbolism was demonstrated by the defendant, in what combination of signs and elements” , said Ershova’s lawyer.

“During the process, the earrings themselves were examined and it was found that they have the shape of a frog with the image of a seven-color rainbow,” he added.

According to Aegis, on January 29, the girl and her friend were approached by “aggressive people, presumably provocateurs,” who, filming what was happening on video, demanded that they remove “forbidden symbols.” It was about a badge in the form of the flag of Ukraine and rainbow earrings.

The next day, a video of the incident circulated in local public pages. In the footage, an unknown person approaches a couple sitting in a cafe. He demands that the young man take off the yellow and blue badge from his sweater, and then tears it off with the words “Take off the [Ukrainian] flag, come on, bitch” and promises to bring it to the Center for Countering Extremism.

On January 30, Ershova was summoned for questioning at Center E, after which she was detained and kept in the department overnight until her trial.

On January 18, it became known about the first charge in Russia of displaying “LGBT symbols.” A girl from the Saratov region was charged with an administrative charge of demonstrating extremist symbols because of a photo with rainbow flags.

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