Plyusnina's decision to go public this week with the responses by regional police comes amid heightened national attention in Russia to criminal prosecutions over online content - including satirical memes - that authorities deem hate speech or insulting to religion. 'The comments in question express a negative attitude toward homosexuals,' police continued in the response, a copy of which was obtained by RFE/RL. 'The texts examined are not aimed at forming among readers a negative attitude toward individuals or a group of individuals singled out by nationality, race, religion, or social affiliation,' reads one of the three police responses to complaints filed by Anna Plyusnina, a lawyer with the LGBT Resource Center in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. Internet users in Russia have faced criminal hate-speech charges for mocking religion on social media, including for likening the Jon Snow character from Game Of Thrones to Jesus Christ.īut when a Russian LGBT activist complained to police about online comments saying 'faggots should be pummeled' or 'snuffed out,' they said no laws were broken - and that sexual minorities are not a group protected under hate-speech laws.
