The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your e-mail.
This is one-time request.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to comments.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to comments.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to reply on this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to reply in this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your subscription to comments on this publication
and to reply on this opinion.
The three letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters,
to confirm your e-mail in comment, subscription to comments and to reply on this opinion.
Are you not a robot?
E-mail confirmation
Thank you for your participation.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your e-mail.
This is one-time request.
Are you not a robot?
Rainbow NewsLGBT "Side by Side" Challenges "Foreign Agent" Tag in ECHR
8 May 2013
The Side-by-Side LGBT Movie festival, which is being prosecuted by Saint-Petersburg Public Prosecutor's Office along with other educational and sports LGBT organizations of Russia for breaching article 19.7 "On foreign agents" of the Administrative Code, is going to seek protection of its rights from the European Court on Human Rights. The first hearing of this case is scheduled on the end of this month in the Magistrate's Court of Saint-Petersburg.
On May 6, 2013 this LGBT organization received a prescript of the Saint-Petersburg Central District Public Prosecutor's Office accusing the entity in violation of the above mentioned article of the Administrative Code.
"Prosecutor's verification has begun on March 21, 2013 with the "mobile team" turning up out of the blue that consisted of 6 officials: from Ministry of Justice, the Interior and Prosecutor's Office. They presented a 3 pages document. A month later, on April 23, an official from City's Prosecutor's Office arrived again with a new paper (on 6 pages)", say organizers of the biggest European LGBT Movie Festival. "It was clear that prosecutors had scrutinized in details the activity of the organization and demanded all films, documents and published materials to be handed to them in a very short time - on the very next day - on April 24".
In the prescript, signed by Saint-Petersburg Central District prosecutor - Mr. Burdov, it was stated that the movie festival had done two violations - published a brochure "The International LGBT Movement: from local particularity to global policy" and participated in the campaign "Together we will stop homophobic law" - aimed against the federal draft law on so-called "homopropaganda".
"From the language and details of the prescript it was clear that prosecutors were in a hurry, the paper was done swift-handedly with many errors in dates (in our case it is very important, taking into consideration the date when the Federal law "On foreign agents" came into force (November 21, 2012) and in the body of the document", said Gulya Sultanova, one of the festival's organizers. In prosecutors' prescript, according to Sultanova, one can see "ubiquitous substitution of concepts". "We are charged with agitation and political activities. But in favor of what party or political movement? Quotes that prove our "political activities" are mixed and picked out from different texts and contexts. The campaign "Together we will stop homophobic law" was organized by our organization in 2011 and it was aimed against the homophobic law that came into force in Saint-Petersburg and in no way connected with the federal law on "propaganda...".
"The Organizing committee of the Side-by-Side LGBT movie festival sees the law on "agents" as anti-constitutional which is aimed to punish human rights organizations. The very necessity to be included in the Register of "Agents" is illegal and contradicts with the idea of the laws that regulate Non-Profit organizations. This opinion was not once aired by human rights watch-dogs and even shared by Mr. Konovalov, the Russian Justice Minister, in January of this year", states the Side-by-Side press release that was forwarded to the mass-media yesterday night.
The "Side-by-Side" LGBT organization may face a huge fine or closure provided it will continue to violate the law "on foreign agents". In order to defend their opinion, organizers of this LGBT event have promised to seek legal protection from the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg.
A confirmation request has been sent to you.
Follow the link in the message to confirm your subscription.
Please check your spam folder if you have not received our letter.