A court in Krasnoyarsk has fined a local man for adding songs from a music album featuring the rainbow flag to his “VKontakte” social media playlist. This flag is identified as a symbol of the “International Public LGBT* Movement,” an organization whose activities are recognized as extremist and prohibited in the Russian Federation.
According to case documents, law enforcement agencies conducted an internet sweep and found audio recordings with LGBT* symbolism on the man`s personal VKontakte page. The court`s ruling specifies that a particular music track was found with album art displaying the rainbow flag, a symbol of the movement declared extremist by a decision of the Russian Supreme Court.
During the legal proceedings, the man fully admitted his guilt and accepted the charges against him. Consequently, the court found him guilty under Part 1 of Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (public display of symbols of extremist organizations) and imposed a fine of one thousand rubles.
Publicly available information indicates that the compositions in question belong to a music album by a rap group from Magnitogorsk, established in 2014.
*The LGBT movement is recognized as extremist in Russia and prohibited.
