Parties in Socks and Burning Passports: State Pressure on Moral Grounds: Human rights news, court updates & analysis | 27 related articles

17.02.2025

16:18

An Ulyanovsk magistrate’s court in the Lenin District has fined the owner of the local “Pod’e! bar,” Vadim Kudyushev, 150,000 roubles (approx. US$1,650) under the article on LGBT “propaganda” (Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code). This was reported by “7×7—Horizontal Russia.”

The charge was brought in January for “popularising and imposing” information about LGBT people through various interior design elements. Law enforcement pointed out in their report various colours used in the bar’s design which they claimed were “commonly recognised, hidden symbols of the LGBT community,” including white, black and pink.

Additionally, police cited the use of images of male genitals, as well as sweets shaped like buttocks and female genitals in the venue’s décor. According to law enforcement, the colours of the sweets referenced the rainbow flag.

The bar opened in the city in late December last year. The next day, Vasily Gvozdev, a regional legislative deputy, took notice of it. In a VKontakte post, he called the bar’s operation “sodomy” and requested that Rospotrebnadzor, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Human Rights Commissioner conduct an inspection.

After the charge was filed, the bar began collecting humanitarian aid for children from the occupied part of Kherson region in Ukraine. On the eve of the court hearing, a post appeared on “Pod’e! bar’s” social media featuring an appeal from participants in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in support of the bar.

14.02.2025

11:17

Moscow

In Moscow, the bookshop Falanster cancelled the launch of Kirill Medvedev’s book, “Antifascism for Everyone. Revised and Expanded,” following reports by pro-war Z-channels. The cancellation was reported on Facebook by Boris Kupriyanov, the founder of Falanster, as noted by the media outlet Current Time.

The launch of the antifascist book, which in particular discusses the murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, was due to take place this evening.

Boris Kupriyanov pointed out that the report was made by the channel “Sons of Monarchy.” However, as Current Time noted, the first post accusing the book’s author, Kirill Medvedev, was published by “URAL LIVE.” In the post, Medvedev was described as a “radical” who “collected money for terrorists and saboteurs” and who “decided to throw a party for himself in the centre of Moscow.”

Later, the channel “Sons of Monarchy” reposted this publication, adding that the book launch was “a good reason for both right-wing and normal left-wing patriots to come to this event” and to ask Medvedev questions “about his civic position.”

Boris Kupriyanov stated that the authors of these channels “hate real antifascists,” including Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, who were killed by neo-Nazis.

“They hate them in a primitive way, to the point of convulsions, to trembling hands. And they easily join together to inform on others (as they know no other way) in order to ban, to shut out,” added the founder of Falanster.

The movement “Zov Naroda” (demanded that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the FSB “deal with the foreign agent” Kirill Medvedev and investigate him “for rehabilitating Nazism,” because of his performance of the song “Sacred War” with obscene language and “conducting subversive activities” in Russia.

Kirill Medvedev is the founder of the Free Marxist Publishing House, a political activist, vocalist, and guitarist for the band Arkady Kots. He was a member of the left-wing political organisation Russian Socialist Movement (RSD), which in April 2024 was declared a “foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice. A month later, the RSD announced its self-dissolution.

02.02.2025

10:20

Novosibirsk Oblast

In the Krasny Fakel Theatre in Novosibirsk—a major city in Siberia—a performance of The Case, directed by Dmitry Yegorov, was cancelled following a demand from law enforcement agents, reports NGS, citing its sources.

On 1 February, the theatre announced the replacement of The Case, which had been scheduled to be performed that same evening. The cancellation was explained by technical reasons.

According to NGS, several sources familiar with the situation said that the performance was cancelled on the firm recommendation of law enforcement.

“The response from law enforcement was apparently prompted by a complaint from a dissatisfied audience member. It is assumed that The Case will no longer appear in the theatre’s repertoire,” one source said.

Yulia Shchetkova, head of press at Krasny Fakel, insisted in her correspondence with an NGS journalist that the performance was cancelled due to technical reasons. In response to a question on the theatre’s Telegram channel about whether there would be any performances of The Case this season, the channel administrator replied that none were planned for March and the repertoire for the following months had not yet been set.

The premiere of the performance took place at Krasny Fakel in 2020. On the theatre’s website, it is described as a satirical production telling the story of a high-society fraudster whose ex-fiancée is accused of criminal conspiracy as a result of his scams. The woman’s father, in order to help her, plans to give a large bribe to the “master of the case,” a state councillor.

“The performance is a ruthless satire that knows no temporal bounds,” reads the description for The Case.

In reviews posted in the theatre’s public group, audience members noted that the production addresses issues with the judicial system and corruption, and is also filled with “jokes on political themes” and references to recent events.

Former theatre director Aleksandr Kulyabin is currently on trial, accused of exceeding official powers (para. “v” pt. 3 art. 286 of the Criminal Code) and embezzlement on a large scale (pts. 3 and 4 art. 160 of the Criminal Code). He headed Krasny Fakel for 23 years and was dismissed as director at the end of 2022. That same year, productions by his son, director Timofey Kulyabin—who spoke out against the war in Ukraine and resigned as chief director—were removed from the theatre’s repertoire.

The story has been corrected to fix an inaccurate description of the play’s plot. We apologise for the error.

31.01.2025

20:47

Temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea

A woman living in annexed Sevastopol has been fined 50,000 roubles (around US$550) under the law on “propaganda of refusal to have children” online (part 3, article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of posts on social media. This was reported by the city’s police Telegram channel. The post was highlighted by the Feminist Anti-War Resistance.

It is not known which court issued the sentence. OVD-Info was unable to find a record of the case.

Authorities described the 29-year-old woman as a “fan of the childfree movement.” According to them, she “posted misanthropic content, including statements about the appeal of refusing to have children in favour of a carefree lifestyle.”

The police post is accompanied by screenshots of reposts from meme groups on VKontakte. Two of them feature actors and characters—including Rick from the animated series “Rick and Morty”—making obscene gestures (in most cases, police partially or fully blurred the raised middle finger); in the third meme, a photo of director Quentin Tarantino is accompanied by a quote allegedly from him: “Making films, not kids, is my motto. To hell with snot-nosed little bastards, I want to have fun” (the words “to hell” and “bastards” were also partially blurred by the authorities). Most likely, it is this latter meme that has been deemed a “statement about the appeal of refusing to have children in favour of a carefree lifestyle.” Police did not explain how the images with obscene gestures relate to refusing to have children.

The law banning “childfree propaganda,” which expanded the scope of the legislation on so-called “LGBT propaganda,” was signed by Putin on 23 November last year.

29.01.2025

16:01

Kemerovo Oblast

Lolita’s concerts have been cancelled in Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk. Venue representatives stated this was due to force majeure, reports “Siberian Express.”

In Kemerovo, a major city in Siberia, the concert was scheduled to be held on 17 February at the Arena sports complex, but the organisers announced that cable repairs would be taking place in the hall that day.

In Novokuznetsk, also a major Siberian city, the owner of the venue said that their “facility safety certificate had expired.”

“You understand that this is all about safety regulations—it’s a catastrophic situation. This means some don’t have a safety certificate but still hold concerts and festivals, while others have issues with cables, and cables mean fire risk. I am certain that their fire safety systems are not fully in order. <…> So just don’t go to these venues—it’s dangerous. They have admitted as much themselves,” commented Lolita.

21.01.2025

10:34

Republic of Tatarstan

In Kazan, a large city on the Volga River, the exhibition by artist Ivan Stan, “The Finiteness of Infinity,” was cancelled right at the opening. This was reported by the Telegram channel “VTP | Understood in Tatarstan”.

The exhibition was supposed to take place at the “Contemporary Art Gallery of Supermodern.” The event was cancelled at the initiative of the gallery director, who saw “satanism” in Stan’s works. Particular attention was drawn to a painting depicting a rider on a horse resembling a phallus.

“People are concerned by themes of catastrophe, death, decay, and war. These are exactly the subjects I address in my works. People must do their utmost to preserve their own world, so as not to end up in the lifeless desert shown in my paintings,” Ivan Stan writes about his works.

11.01.2025

11:45

In Russia, scenes mentioning Ramzan Kadyrov and drugs have been cut from the Russian release of the Canadian film “Simple comme Sylvain” (“The Nature of Love”). This was reported by film critic Timur Aliyev on his Telegram channel, “Commandant of the Fortress of Cinema.”

In one scene, the main character and her husband are walking in a park, discussing dictators. In the original version, the man says his “favourite dictator” is Ramzan Kadyrov; the woman, in turn, names former Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. In the Russian cinematic release, this scene is almost entirely missing.

In another scene, one of the characters says they have MDMA, while holding an object in their hand. In the cinema version, these few seconds have also been removed.

Yet another excerpt was edited, where a character says the phrase: “I’m a 42-year-old homosexual.” In the Russian release, this was dubbed as: “I’m quite a man.”

The Canadian film “The Nature of Love” by Monia Chokri was released in Russian cinemas in February 2024. The edited version is also being shown on Russian online streaming services Kion, Okko, Premier, Wink, Ivi, and Kinopoisk.

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Parties in Socks and Burning Passports: State Pressure on Moral Grounds