Week-ending 9 April 2021
“This absurdity has lasted almost a year and a half. A woman has been criminally charged with ‘producing pornography’ simply for drawing and publishing images of the female body and freely expressing her views through art. During this ordeal, Yulia has spent time under house arrest and twice been subjected to extortionate fines under the so-called ‘gay propaganda’ law. Despite these ridiculous and unfounded charges, this case has somehow reached court. However the absurdity has not ended on the courtroom doorstep, as now the judge ruled that the trial will be closed to the public and the press under the pretext that Yulia’s so-called ‘pornographic materials’ will be examined during the hearings. The Russian authorities must stop trying to hide this Kafkaesque absurdity behind closed doors, and guarantee Yulia’s right to a public hearing. We also reiterate our call on the Russian authorities to immediately drop all charges against Yulia Tsvetkova, stop targeting feminist, LGBTI and other activists, and guarantee artistic freedom for all.”
-Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, on the case of Yulia Tsvetkova whose trial on charges of pornography is to begin on 12 April 2021 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
Sources:
Amnesty International, 9 April 2021: The trial of Yulia Tsvetkova, an artist, feminist and LGBTI rights activist, on absurd charges of pornography for her drawings of female bodies, will begin on 12 April in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East region. “This absurdity has lasted almost a year and a half. A woman has been criminally charged with ‘producing pornography’ simply for drawing and publishing images of the female body and freely expressing her views through art. During this ordeal, Yulia has spent time under house arrest and twice been subjected to extortionate fines under the so-called ‘gay propaganda’ law,” said Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director.
