A case was brought against employees of Popcorn Books after a “test purchase” of queer literature involving schoolgirls

A criminal case on “LGBT extremism” against employees of the publishing house Popcorn Books was opened after an operational “control purchase” by security forces, as follows from the case materials, which Mediazona has reviewed .

The essence of the accusation. The investigation claims that in 2022, Eksmo employees compiled two lists of books with “LGBT propaganda.” “Red” included works that had already been banned, while “yellow” included those that could raise questions from the security forces. They were going to sell books from the first list abroad, and from the second - to sell them in Russia, security officials say.

The case file states that in January 2024, former sales director of Popcorn Books Pavel Ivanov received an order for 50 books from the “red” list. One of the customers was a minor born in 2006, another was a girl born in 2008. The latter is directly indicated in the case materials as a participant in the “test purchase”.

The case also mentions sending a batch of books by bus to Azerbaijan and selling them through the Avito service, where security forces also carried out a “test purchase.”

The indictment states that all books were shipped from the Eksmo warehouse and were carried out through “shadow accounting.” The investigation claims that Popcorn Books management monitored the movement and sale of “banned books” in real time.

According to the security forces, all the activities of the “organized group” within Eksmo were aimed at involving minors in the activities of the “LGBT movement.”

The fate of Ivanov. Today, former Popcorn Books sales director Pavel Ivanov was asked to receive a four-year suspended sentence on charges of organizing an “extremist” community.

He admitted his guilt, made a plea deal and testified against other defendants in the case. According to him, “unidentified” representatives of the Eksmo publishing house involved other defendants in “extremist activities.”

“During the confrontation, when unidentified persons from the Eksmo publishing house were presented, I completely exposed them in the criminal activities that they carried out in the publishing house, since all this was before my eyes, and I witnessed how they, in fact, dragged us into this activity,” Ivanov said.

According to him, he testified voluntarily because “he believed that it was his civic duty to give truthful testimony against people who were and are engaged in anti-government activities, violating the Constitution.” Ivanov said that back in 2023 he demanded in the State Duma to introduce censorship for books.