02.07.2014
Today, July 2, Vasiliostrovsky District Court of St. Petersburg held what we thought was going to be the last hearing of the civil case against “Coming Out”, the prosecution seeking to oblige “Coming Out” to register as a "foreign agent." However, proceedings took a new turn, resulting in the hearings once again being postponed to July 16.
Using the new logic of the newly modified “foreign agents” law, which enables Ministry of Justice to register NGOs as “foreign agents” without their will or consent, the prosecution decided to modify its claims. Before, it sought for the court to oblige “Coming Out” to register, in which case, of course, we would refuse and continue legal battles. The new claim is for the court to rule that “Coming Out” is, indeed, a “foreign agent.” If this happens, Ministry of Justice will automatically register “Coming Out” as a “foreign agent.”
Harassment of "Coming Out" under the “foreign agents” law has been dragging on for 15 months, since the first inspections in March 2013. The prosecution, having lost the administrative suit last summer, launched the new civil suit in the winter of 2013. Since the very first hearing of last year, it has not presented any new evidence that "Coming Out" is engaged in “political activity” using foreign money. The basis for the “foreign agents” claim is still the “Coming Out”’s brochure on discrimination of LGBT , and a protest rally against adoption of the “propaganda law” (which, incidentally, “Coming Out” did not organize).
“The arduous attempts to label us “foreign agents” are in line with the Russian Federation’s promotion of traditional values, domestically and abroad, of which homophobia seems to be an important one,” says Coming Out’s activist, Polina Andrianova. “Our goal is equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. We want St. Petersburg’s citizens to understand and respect each other. We will not work under this label.”