First Minor Charged Under Putin’s Anti-Gay Propaganda Law

16-year-old Maxim Neverov is the first minor to be charged under Russia’s “gay propaganda” laws, Reuters reports.

Neverov was fined 50,000 rubles, the equivalent of around $760, for posting pictures of partially naked men embracing on the social network Vkontakte. He was found guilty of “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships among minors”.

Neverov has since filed an appeal. Before his prosecution last week, he said, “All people’s rights are being violated in Russia, not just LGBT people’s.

“And I believe LGBT are just people, so there is no reason to fight for LGBT rights separately from everyone else’s.”

Russia anti-gay propaganda laws have been in place since 2013 and have been used to justify extreme discrimination against the LGBT+ community. Previously these laws had been used to ban Pride parades and detain LGBT+ activists.

Svetlana Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian LGBT Network, has said this case is worrying because it’s the first time authorities have gone after someone who wasn’t actively campaigning for LGBT+ rights – this was, after all, just a teenager posting shirtless pictures on a private account.

“Usually (the authorities) prosecute people for marching in the streets with rainbow flags,” Zakharova said.

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