Russian activist arrested for vagina drawings acquitted of pornography charges in rare win

An LGBTQ+ feminist activist in Russia has been acquitted of pornography charges in a rare win for queer rights in the country.

Yulia Tsvetkova was arrested in 2019 after posting drawings of vaginas on social media to combat societal body image norms. She was charged with distributing pornography and spent four months under house arrest.

She was also charged in July 2020 over the same drawings with four counts of promoting non-traditional sexual relations among minors under article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, better known as the “LGBT propaganda” law. She was fined 125,000 rubles (£1,808) for two of the charges.

Attempts to exonerate Tsvetkova began after the Russian human rights organisation Memorial recognised her as a political prisoner and advocated for her release in a complaint, which prompted the case to be opened.

She was acquitted of all charges on Friday (15 July) in a Komsomolsk-on-Amur court, according to sources reported by The Moscow Times. Messages in a group chat created by supporters said: “The three-year long trial ended with victory for the defence. We are happy, but not completed yet.”