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.
In May 2025, two leading Russian LGBT rights organizations, Coming Out and Sphere, documented that after the Supreme Court decision, LGBT support groups "experienced a substantial rise in requests for assistance with departure, processing humanitarian visas, seeking asylum and emergency evacuation under circumstances of persecution." They also emphasized that the ruling "severely constrained the operational capabilities of support organizations, leading to the closure of queer spaces and events, forcing them into clandestine modes of operation."
"Russia's international partners should call on the government to end its persecution of LGBT people and their supporters," Williamson said. "Other governments should also provide safe haven and meaningful protection to those fleeing Russia for fear of prosecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and their public expressions of support for LGBT rights."
For additional details, please see below.
Methodology
Human Rights Watch collected data from official courts' websites related to cases of displaying banned symbols, focusing on cases dating from November 2023. The researcher then reviewed social media pages mentioned in or identifiable from the court judgments and their archived versions, if available.
To supplement this data, the researcher archived and reviewed Telegram messages from 213 official channels for various branches of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, courts, and Russia's chief investigative agency. The researcher also archived and reviewed messages from channels run by rights groups and independent media, which mentioned "LGBT," extremism, banned symbols, and relevant articles of criminal and administrative law. We also reviewed published research findings and databases by prominent civil society groups, such as Sova Center, OVD-Info, and Political Prisoners Support. Memorial.
To avoid creating additional security risks for the people targeted, Human Rights Watch did not link to the court cases cited unless they were previously covered in the media or the defendants' social media pages.
Convictions for Administrative Offenses
Human Rights Watch identified 97 convictions on charges under article 20.3 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses for alleged displays of LGBT symbols, and one conviction under article 20.29 of the same code for distributing content justifying extremism.
The first conviction under article 20.3, for publishing the rainbow flag on social media, appeared to be on January 25, 2024. Since then, the number of such cases has increased quickly. Thirty-eight of the cases were brought in Moscow, the most for any region in Russia.
Human Rights Watch found one initial acquittal by a court of first instance. In January 2024, a Krasnodar court held that the defendant had not committed an offense because they had published an "LGBT flag" on their social media page before the Supreme Court's 2023 decision. However, the police appealed the ruling and the regional court ruled in their favor finding that the defendant had not deleted the flag after it had been outlawed and committed the offense by omission.
In many court decisions, the illicit symbol is only described in general terms, such as "the symbol of the 'International Public LGBT movement.'" In most cases, it appears to be the six-color rainbow flag identified in the Supreme Court decision as one of the organization's symbols. In at least two instances, people appear to have been prosecuted for displaying a regular seven-colored rainbow. In at least one case, the case related to a blue-pink-white flag, a symbol associated with transgender people's rights.
Seven people were convicted for offline activities. In January 2024, a court in Nizhny Novgorod sentenced Anastasia Ershova to five days in detention for wearing frog-shaped rainbow-colored earrings, following an apparent politically motivated assault against her and her friend, which was recorded by the assailant and published online.
Another person in the city of Perm was fined for placing the rainbow flag in their window. Two others were charged for taking a picture with the rainbow flag outdoors in the middle of the night in the Moscow region.
In November 2024, a court in Nizhny Novgorod fined a teacher for placing the rainbow flag in the school's space designed to promote tolerance. Also in November, a court in Yakutsk imposed an additional sentence on a prisoner for allegedly showing the rainbow flag to other prisoners. In May 2025, the same court convicted another prisoner who allegedly drew a picture in a notebook, using the rainbow colors.
Ninety convictions have been for online activities; most for posts, images or user profile information published on social media, with 61 on VKontakte, Russia's largest social media platform. Thirteen were based on information law enforcement identified on Telegram. The remaining cases were based on activities on other platforms: Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, Odnoklassniki (another Russian social media site), a dating website, a stock photo website, and the official state services portal.
The police also pursued charges for using the rainbow flag in memes sent in public and closed group chats or for displaying it on profile pictures or using the rainbow flag emoji in a post or profile status. In one case, the head of a regional campaign office for an opposition candidate in the 2024 presidential election was detained for six days for reposting a picture with the rainbow flag in a closed friends' chat of 11 people. OVD-Info, a leading Russian rights organization, said that the police received access to the group after one of the participants' accounts was hacked.
Not everyone targeted had used the rainbow flag in support of LGBT people or a neutral context. In April 2024, a court in Volgograd fined an administrator of a xenophobic and homophobic Telegram channel for publishing a video showing the Swedish military at the 2023 Pride parade.
In another context, a court in Moscow fined Aleksandra Marova for including contact information for the psychological support helpline of the Russian LGBT Network, a prominent support group, in a post she published following a devastating March 2024 armed attack on a concert hall. Her conviction was under article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which punishes distributing materials on the Ministry of Justice's list of extremist materials or "other" materials "justifying" extremist activities.
In 17 cases, courts sanctioned defendants with detention. The average punishment was 8 days of a maximum of 15 days by law. In 81 cases, courts imposed fines of up to the maximum 2,000 rubles (US$25).
Repeat Offenses
Under the 2022 amendments to Russia's Criminal Code, repeat displays of banned symbols-after the person has served the first administrative sentence-are punishable by up to four years in prison, even if a different symbol unrelated to LGBT rights is displayed in subsequent cases.
