Human rights organizations sent to the Supreme Court an opinion on the “anti-legal nature” of the Ministry of Justice’s claim to ban and recognize the “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization. A copy of the document prepared by the lawyers is at Meduza's disposal.
Human rights activists cited the first reason for dismissing the lawsuit as the fact that there is no “international LGBT social movement.” As they noted, a group of people with common characteristics or people belonging to the same group cannot be called a movement.
“It would be as absurd as, for example, calling a "social movement" all pensioners or people of a certain ethnic group,” the conclusion says.
Due to the closed nature of the trial, the principle of transparency is violated, the lawyers added. In addition, they drew attention: since the movement does not exist, neither organizations nor individuals can act as defendants or interested parties.
In a conversation with Mediazona, one of the founders of the Russian LGBT Network “Igor Kochetkov said that on November 24 he founded an organization with the name indicated by the Ministry of Justice — “International LGBT Public Movement.” In this way, the association will be able to become an interested party in the process, the human rights activist explained.
“Our goal is to show the absurdity of this case,” Kochetkov added.
The authors of the appeal to the Supreme Court clarified that the decision in favor of the Ministry of Justice will lead to the criminalization of human rights and activist activities, as well as to the risk of persecution of journalists and LGBT representatives. In addition, the number of ways to assert your rights will be reduced.
“Recognition of the “LGBTQ movement” as extremist will actually mean a desire for state control over beliefs and the imposition of “traditional” family values, allegedly incompatible with the activities of the “LGBT movement,” and will also contradict the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation that Russia is a secular state,” concluded the authors of the appeal.
The Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to recognize LGBT as an “extremist organization” on November 17. The first meeting is scheduled for November 30. According to the card on the court’s website, it will be held behind closed doors.
The Justice Ministry’s lawsuit was preceded by the adoption of two repressive laws against LGBT people. First, the law on “LGBT propaganda” was extended to adults—previously it only applied to children. Then Russia banned transgender transition — both changing the gender marker in documents and medical interventions related to the transition.
Russian courts have previously banned subcultures and groups of people that do not have a single association, clear structure or political ideology . Thus, Columbine, or school shootings, were recognized as a “terrorist organization,” and AUE, or “Prisoner Criminal Unity,” was recognized as an “extremist organization.”