Source: Amnesty International –
A decision by a court in Russia’s second biggest city to designate the Russian LGBT Network an “extremist organization” and impose a nationwide ban on its activities will only increase the marginalization of LGBTI people and their human rights, Amnesty International said today.
The verdict by the St Petersburg City Court followed closed hearings as requested by the Ministry of Justice and was issued within two months of similar rulings designating four other LGBTI groups: Coming Out in St Petersburg, the LGBT Resource Centre in Yekaterinburg, Moscow Community Centre for LGBT+ Initiatives, LGBTI group Irida in Samara, and LGBTI-themed media project Parni+ as “extremist organizations.”
“When in November 2023 the Supreme Court banned the non-existent ‘international LGBT movement’ as ‘extremist,’ it was clear that the authorities would not stop there. The designation of the Russian LGBT Network and other organizations as ‘extremist’ are links in the same chain of persecution and injustice by the Russian authorities against LGBTI people,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director.
The designation of the Russian LGBT Network and other organizations as ‘extremist’ are links in the same chain of persecution and injustice by the Russian authorities against LGBTI people
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director
“For nearly two decades, the Russian LGBT Network has united activists from across the country, provided emergency assistance and produced vital research on discrimination and violence against LGBTI people. Banning it is a major premeditated blow to LGBTI people and their allies.”
LGBTI human rights defenders, activists and volunteers play a vital role in providing legal, psychological and social support, documenting abuses and evacuating those at risk. Despite their legitimate human rights work, a growing number of organizations have been arbitrarily designated as “extremist”.
“The Russian authorities must immediately stop misusing anti-extremism legislation to repress the LBGTI community, reverse homophobic policies and guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association and non-discrimination to LGBTI people in line with international human rights law. Discriminatory legislation targeting and criminalizing LGBTI people must be fully abolished, and court decisions designating the ‘international LGBT movement’ and individual organizations as ‘extremist’ overturned,” Marie Struthers said.