Police in Russia have charged a 13-year-old schoolboy with spreading “LGBT propaganda” and displaying “extremist” symbols after he shared an unidentified video with classmates.
According to Mediazona, the boy was charged in May after parents of other students complained about the video.
His identity has been withheld to protect his privacy.
The case comes amid Russia’s intensifying crackdown on LGBTQ+ expression, following the country’s Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that the so-called “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist” organisation.
Since then, symbols associated with LGBTQ+ identity, including rainbows, have been treated by authorities as potential “extremist” symbols.
Lawyer says video was shared as a joke
A lawyer representing the schoolboy told Mediazona that the child had no intention of promoting anything.
“He wasn’t trying to spread propaganda. He doesn’t even know what that is,” the lawyer said.
She described his actions as “a joke for the sake of a joke.”
“Something clicked, his hormones kicked in — he wanted to make a joke, to say something. Adults thought it was complete nonsense, that he was promoting something,” she explained.
Despite that, the lawyer said the Russian legal system had “sped off” with its investigation.
“The internet is something that’s accessible to everyone. Even children can go online, come across [these kinds of videos], and show them to someone else. And the authorities consider this a form of propaganda,” she said.
Case referred to juvenile commission
The boy’s case falls under both Russia’s “gay propaganda” laws, first introduced in 2013 and expanded in 2022, and the country’s ban on the so-called “international LGBT movement”.
However, violations of those laws are administrative offences that apply only to people aged 16 and older.
As a result, police transferred the case to a regional Juvenile Affairs Commission.
After reviewing evidence of the boy’s alleged “crimes”, the commission issued a warning for spreading “LGBT propaganda” and determined that he was “remediable”.
The commission recommended that the boy be sent to a special education institute for “reform”.
“Prevention authorities believe that he should be rehabilitated exclusively in these centers,” the lawyer said. “Special, closed-type institutions. They live, study, and are treated by psychologists.”
The boy, who his lawyer described as an excellent student and winner of school Olympiad and creative competitions, has already been designated a juvenile offender.
Pending approval from the Juvenile Affairs Commission, he could continue his education in a reform school.
The lawyer has filed a court complaint challenging the commission’s decision.
The schoolboy’s mother confirmed that her son was under investigation but declined to provide further details, calling the case “classified information”.
Crackdown intensifies
Russian authorities have ramped up prosecutions under “gay propaganda” and “extremist movement” laws in recent months.
Earlier in May, a Russian woman was sentenced to 18 months of forced labour for writing gay K-pop fan fiction.
The week before, a foreign national was deported after writing a positive review of a mini-skirt he modelled online.
Both were found guilty of violating “gay propaganda” bans.
In April, a Russian court declared the country’s largest LGBTQ+ organisation, the Russian LGBT Network, an “extremist” group under the umbrella of the so-called “international LGBT movement”.
That ruling paved the way for members of the organisation to be criminally prosecuted as alleged threats to Russia’s sovereignty.
For LGBTQ+ advocates, the case of the 13-year-old schoolboy shows how far Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws now reach, extending even to children, online jokes and ordinary symbols of identity.
