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.
Six Russian citizens who were found guilty of operational crimes and having access to their sites, pages, and online communities blocked turned to the ECHR after being found guilty of administrative crimes turned to the country for the promotion of sexuality among adolescents.
The Russian authorities somewhat determined that the candidates ‘ online papers were “harmful for children,” according to the ECHR, noting that “promotion of non-traditional physical ties” among adolescents is a crime punishable by a fine in Russia.
In its choice, the Strasbourg-based judge took issue with Russia’s techniques to control access to information that represented same-sex relationships as being similar to bisexual ones.
The estimate, it found, violated the plaintiffs ‘ freedom of expression, enshrined in post 10 of the German human rights agreement.
After security solutions obtained customer data from one of the defendants on the VKontakte social networking, the court also criticized Russia for violating privacy laws.
In a split ruling, also released Tuesday, the ECHR faulted Russia for failing to take actions after specific details of three queer people, including their sexual orientation, were released on social network in situations it called “homophobia-driven”.
In that case, the court determined that Russia had failed to safeguard their privacy and take steps to stop discrimination.
The ECHR, a member of the council of Europe’s rights body, is in charge of putting the European Human Rights Convention into practice in the 46 signatory nations.
It was exempt from the council of Europe in February 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, and it was kicked out of the convention in September that year.
However, cases brought before that date are still up for hearing in the European court.
