The Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg fined Alexander Voronov, executive director of the Vykhod LGBT group, 150,000 rubles, the press service of the city courts reported on its Telegram channel.
Voronov was fined as an official. According to the court, on March 6, 2023, he published material on the Vykhoda telegram channel that was not marked as a “foreign agent” (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
As the representatives of the group told Novaya Gazeta Evropa, an administrative protocol was drawn up in April due to the lack of marking for «Exit». Then the court imposed a fine of 350 thousand rubles on the LGBT group, but Vykhod does not have a legal entity, so it was impossible to fine it. As a result, Roskomnadzor drew up a protocol against Voronov. Human rights activists added that they would appeal the fine.
The Ministry of Justice recognized the St. Petersburg LGBT initiative group Vykhod as a “foreign agent” in December 2021. This year, against the background of the adoption in Russia of a repressive law on “LGBT propaganda” among people of all ages, about ten more initiatives helping LGBTQ+ representatives were announced as “foreign agents”.
Repressive anti-LGBT law signed. How to help human rights defenders who support the queer community