STRASBOURG: The European court of human rights (ECHR) on Tuesday condemned Russia for violating the free speech rights of a group of nationals running websites supporting and advising LGBTQ people.
The verdict came after six Russian nationals who were accused in Russia of “promoting homosexuality among minors” turned to the ECHR after being found guilty of administrative offences and having access to their websites, webpages and online groups blocked.
The Russian courts notably found that the applicants’ publications on the internet were “harmful for children”, the ECHR said, noting that “promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors is an offence punishable by a fine in Russia.
In its decision, the Strasbourg-based court took issue with Russia’s moves to limit access to information that represented same-sex relations as being equal to heterosexual ones.
The measure, it found, violated the plaintiffs’ freedom of expression, enshrined in article 10 of the European human rights convention.
The court also condemned Russia for a failure to respect privacy rights, after security services collected user data from one of the plaintiffs on the VKontakte social network.
In a separate verdict, also released Tuesday, the ECHR faulted Russia for failing to take steps after personal details of three gay people, including their sexual orientation, were released on social networks in incidents it called “homophobia-driven”.
In that case, the court ruled that Russia had failed to protect their privacy as well as take steps to prevent discrimination.
The ECHR, part of the council of Europe rights body, is tasked with implementing the European human rights convention in the 46 signatory countries.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it was excluded from the council of Europe, and dropped out of the convention in September of that year.
However, the European court is still competent in cases against Russia that were brought before that date.