The Russian LGBT Network submitted the report "Discrimination and violence against LGBT people in Russia in 2015: the results of monitoring" to the Ombudsperson of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova. In her previous report on violation of human rights in Russia, Pamfilova stated, “There are no mass violation of LGBT rights in the Russian Federation”. As a response, the Network promised to make sure that the Ombudsperson would get the results of the monitoring reports.
Today the Russian LGBT Network published an open letter to the Prosecutor of Khabarovsk Kray Vitaly Kaplunov with the request to pay utmost attention to the case of attack on LGBT activist Alexander Ermoshkin. The copies of the letter were also sent to the Ombudsperson of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova and Ombudsperson of Khabarovsk Kray Yury Berezutskiy. The attack on Alexander Ermoshkin took place in Khabarovsk on May 17, 2015. Despite of the testimonies of six witnesses and video with a clear picture of perpetrator’s face, the investigators stated that they did not manage to identify the offender. Moreover, the investigation was suspended.
Yesterday one of the Murmansk Magistrate courts found the former head of the LGBT organization “Maximum” Sergey Alekseenko guilty of “propaganda of homosexuality among minors” through internet. Alekseenko was also fined with 100 000 rubles (approximately 1 200 euro).
On January 13, the Altai Territory Court upheld the ruling about blocking the first page of the project “Children-404” on the Russian social network Vkontakte. And the very next day, the Central District Court of Barnaul declined to consider another claim that has been filed against the new page of the Children-404 project. The founder of the project Lena Klimova says that the decision of the territory court will be appealed, and the project will continue its work anyway.
Legal Department of State Duma disapproved the draft bill #916716-6 "An amendment to the Russian Federation Administrative Offences Code (regarding the establishment of accountability for public expression of non-traditional sexual relations", which were proposed by deputies of State Duma Ivan Nikitchyuk and Nikolay Arefiev. Nevertheless, the consideration of the bill at the first reading will be held on January 22.
Murmansk's Lenin District court ruled that the denial to initiate a criminal case regarding the attack on the office of Murmansk LGBT organization is "legal, reasonable and justified". The judge Nina Mironenko found that there was no harm inflicted to the victims' health. Moreover, the court didn't take into account the medical report confirming such harm and didn't consider the fact of the attack itself.
Murmansk Police Office №2 has charged the former director of the "Maksimum" LGBT organization with “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships among minors”. The charges were based on an expert report claiming that almost literal quotation from the Roskomnadzor report should be considered propaganda.
Perm Prosecutor's Office conducted an inspection of the local community center for LGBT, which provides psychological and legal assistance for lesbians, gays, and bisexual and transgender people. During the inspection, no violations of the Russian legislation were inspected, and no “propaganda” found. However, during the inspections the police significantly exceeded its authority.
On November 20, 2015, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women made recommendations to the Russian Federation, including some on the status of lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LBTI) women in Russia. [Text is prepared by LGBT Initiative Group Coming Out, Transgender Legal Defense Project and the Russian LGBT Network].
OSCE published data on hate crimes in Russia for 2014. It turned out, that 73 cases out of 336 monitored – are hate crimes against gays, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender people. As the coordinator of the monitoring program put it, these numbers are only the top of the iceberg.
