A court in Kamchatka has sentenced a German citizen to a fine of 150 thousand rubles ($1,840) and expulsion from the country. The man’s “crime” was his posts on the Internet with information about LGBT. This was reported on April 6 on the website of the Yelizovsky District Court.
The foreigner was fined for spreading LGBT content on the Internet. According to the court's website, he had "promoted non-traditional sexual relationships and preferences," thereby imposing information about LGBT on a specific person. The man pleaded guilty and was ordered to be deported from the country.
On April 6, Chinese queer blogger Haoyang Xu was placed under a seven-day arrest for posting 19 videos with his boyfriend on his YouTube channel. The court's ruling stated that Xu and his boyfriend, Gela Gogishvili, touched each other's genitals and other body parts in the videos. Following his arrest, Xu will be deported from China. A Chinese student who came to support him will also be expelled from Russia.
On November 24, 2022, the Russian State Duma passed a law banning LGBT propaganda, pedophilia, and sex reassignment. The legislation includes fines of up to 400,000 rubles ($4,900) for individuals, 800,000 ($9,800) for officials, and 5 million ($61,300) for legal entities. It also prohibits information that "may cause children to desire a sex change."
The Popcorn Books publishing house was charged for refusing to remove books about the LGBT community from their stores, and at least 23 websites deemed to be promoting "LGBT propaganda" were blocked in Russia. These measures have been criticized by human rights groups for discriminating against the LGBT community and violating freedom of expression.
