Yesterday, on August 7, a teenager from Biysk (Altai Krai) Maxim Neverov was found guilty of “propaganda of homosexuality among minors” and fined 50 000 rubles for publishing pictures in the social network “VKontakte”. The Commission on Minors and the Protection of Minors’ Rights considered the case, the Russian LGBT Network provided a lawyer for Maxim Neverov. It is highly possible that special attention of the law enforcement agencies was caused by the performance “Gays or Putin” that attracted a lot of public attention this May.
The European Court of Human Rights has sent case materials to the lawyer of LGBT activist Dmitry Chizhevsky to assist his case, one that has proven difficult for a number of years because Russian law enforcement agencies did not give her access to the relevant materials. According to these materials, it turns out that the investigation considered a case where, in fact, it was the LGBT activists themselves who shot Chizhevsky in the eye, in order to attract media attention, despite the fact that the notorious Timur Isaac confessed during the interrogation that he possessed photos on his tablet of the activist, and he himself owns an air gun.
On 24th July, Russian LGBT Network submitted its alternate report to the UN Committee Against Torture. The report is devoted to detailing the mass persecution of LGBT people in the Chechen Republic, information about which surfaced in the spring of last year. Despite the fact that this campaign, organised by the authorities, affected hundreds of people, the Russian Federation still denies not only the persecution, but also the very existence of LGBT people in Chechnya.
52 Russian and International human rights organizations (including the Russian LGBT Network) signed the statement about the fact that Russia jeopardize online freedoms all over the world. The representative of Article 19 delivered the Statement at the session of the UN Human Rights Council in Genève. 
On May 19th, GENDERDOC-M organized the annual march of equality in Chișinău, under the campaign Fără Frică de Iubire(Without the fear to love). However, unlike the last years’ experience, the march that included approximately 350 participants was able to reach its destination without being attacked and evacuated halfway through the route. The Ministry of Interior provided all necessary protections for the participants and despite the aggressive outbursts of the counter-protestors, the Pride march was not exposed to any violence.
A year has passed since the publication of first testimonies of LGBT people that faced persecution in Chechnya based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. However the unlawful detentions, humiliation and torture of LGBT people in Northern Caucasus persist. There are some things one can do to support the victims of the state-organized persecutions of LGBT in Chechnya.
