Supreme Court Judge Oleg Nefedov considered the Ministry of Justice’s claim to ban and recognize the “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization in four hours. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent located in the courthouse.
The hearing began as scheduled at 10:00, and at 14:14 journalists were invited into the hall to prepare for the announcement of the decision.
“Homophobia and transphobia are becoming the ideology of war.” A brief chronology of the LGBTQ+ ban in modern Russia
Earlier it became known that no one except representatives of the Ministry of Justice was allowed to attend the meeting. All journalists were allowed to go only to a special room for broadcasts. No one was allowed into the part of the court that directly leads to the courtrooms.
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 today, November 30. It is being 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.”