Man cleared of ‘gay propaganda’ charge
Sergey Kondrashov, a straight Russian man arrested two weeks ago for holding up a gay rights banner in St Petersburg, was last week found guilty of disobeying police orders but not charged under the city’s new ‘homosexual propaganda’ law.
The judge cited a lack of evidence and protocols in explaining the absence of the charge in her final decision.
Kondrashov, an attorney, and other human and civil rights activists in Russia say this is further proof of the new law’s unenforceability and unconstitutionality.
“The courts are afraid of applying this law and do not want to take responsibility for its further enforcement,” Kondrashov said.
When arrested, Kondrashov was holding up a banner that read ‘A dear family friend is lesbian. My wife and I love and respect her… and her family is just as equal as ours’.
Rights activists in Russia say the fact that Kondrashov was found guilty of disobeying a police order — an order the court would not recognise or affirm as legal — is further proof the courts have no legal basis to prosecute the propaganda law.
“I was accused only of disobeying the policeman — but all evidence of the supposed propaganda I was spreading disappeared from the court record,” Kondrashov said.
Kondrashov is teaming up with AllOut.org to appeal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to stop the law before if spreads nationwide. Several celebrities including singer Ricky Martin and author and TV personality Stephen Fry, alongside almost 70,000 people around the world, have joined him.
