Artem Savinovsky, chief of Russia's Yandex faces court case for 'LGBT propaganda'

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Yandex faces prosecution in a Russian court for alleged offences under the country's so-called "LGBT propaganda" law, a notice on the court's website said on Wednesday. The move to prosecute Artem Savinovsky, for which no hearing date was listed, comes a day after a different court levied a 1 million rubles ($11,048) fine against an online film database owned by Yandex under the same law.

When contacted by Reuters, Yandex said it would appeal any court finding against its CEO. The court website gave no specific details of what alleged offences Savinovsky was being prosecuted for beyond that they relate to «LGBT propaganda».

The case is an administrative one rather than criminal, meaning it relates to violations of laws that do not cause significant harm or public danger.Russia is intensifying its clampdown on LGBT rights which President Vladimir Putin has sought to portray as evidence of moral decay in Western countries from which Russia must be protected. Last December, Putin signed a law expanding restrictions on the promotion of what it calls «LGBT propaganda», effectively outlawing any public expression of the behaviour or lifestyle of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals or transgender people in Russia.18+ Label Last month the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, gave its initial backing to legislation that would ban gender reassignment surgery for transgender people.