Russian courts have issued over 100 convictions for “extremism” for participating in the “International LGBT Movement” or displaying its alleged symbols.
Administrative, Criminal Charges Used in Crackdown
- Russian authorities weaponize and misuse the justice system as a tool in their draconian crusade to enforce “traditional values” and marginalize and censor LGBT people.
- Russia’s international interlocutors should call on the Kremlin to end its persecution of LGBT people and their supporters; governments should provide safe haven and meaningful protection to those fleeing Russia for fear of prosecution.
(Berlin) – Russian courts have issued 101 “extremism”-related convictions for allegedly participating in the “International LGBT Movement” or displaying its alleged symbols, Human Rights Watch said today. The prosecutions, approximately 98 of them for administrative, or minor misdemeanor, offenses and three for criminal liability, demonstrate Russian authorities’ determination to penalize, persecute, and silence lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their supporters.
In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “International Public LGBT Movement” an “extremist” organization: a legal and factual mischaracterization of a diverse, decentralized global human rights cause. The ruling entered into force in January 2024, opening the floodgates for arbitrary prosecutions of individuals who are LGBT or perceived to be, along with anyone who defends their rights or expresses solidarity with them.
“Russian authorities weaponize and misuse the justice system as a tool in their draconian crusade to enforce ‘traditional values’ and marginalize and censor LGBT people,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “They are flagrantly violating Russians’ rights to free expression, association, and nondiscrimination.”
Human Rights Watch identified the 101 cases through court websites and other official channels. Russia’s 2013 “gay propaganda” law made any positive or neutral depiction or discussion of nonheterosexual relations an administrative offense. The 2023 Supreme Court designation enabled authorities to pursue a broader range of arbitrary charges including, for the first time, criminal prosecutions against LGBT people and their supporters.
Human Rights Watch found that between January 2024 and June 2025 at least 20 people faced criminal charges due to their alleged participation in the “International Public LGBT Movement.” One of the accused died by suicide in pretrial detention. Courts sentenced two to prison. Seventeen cases are pending, or their outcomes are unknown.
On May 15, 2025, investigators charged three staff from two publishing houses with allegedly “running an extremist organization” (article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) by selling fiction exploring LGBT themes and thereby “recruiting” readers into the “International Public LGBT movement” organization. They face up to 12 years in prison.
Human Rights Watch also identified 81 people in 98 court cases, who since January 2024, had been found guilty of administrative offenses for displaying the symbols of the LGBT movement, such as the rainbow flag, most on social media. Human Rights Watch identified the victims by examining courts’ information and rulings in cases under article 20.3 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses for displaying banned symbols, news releases by courts and law enforcement, and reports by media and human rights organizations.
Some people had multiple administrative convictions. The repeated display of any banned symbol is punishable under the criminal code with up to four years in prison. One person was convicted of criminal charges and sentenced to six months of compulsory labor after posting the rainbow flag on a social media page.
Many people convicted for administrative offenses deleted their social media accounts, apparently for fear of criminal prosecution.
In 2023, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the Supreme Court’s “LGBT-extremism” ruling. Independent UN experts warned that the designation enables arbitrary and abusive application of the law and jeopardizes a wide range of activities protected under international human rights law.
The prosecutions for both criminal and administrative offenses that Human Rights Watch examined blatantly violate the right to receive and impart information and ideas guaranteed by article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is party, and its prohibition on discrimination. They also violate the rights to association, liberty and security of the person, and to privacy, among others.
