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Russian LGBT film festival wins appeal against 'foreign agent' ruling
Source: The Guardian
Russian LGBT film festival wins appeal against 'foreign agent' ruling
Andrew Pulver
theguardian.com, Monday 14 October 2013 10.53 BST
Campaigners against Russia's increasingly severe crackdown on gay rights will be cheering a small victory, after a court in St Petersburg overturned a verdict on appeal which had condemned a longstanding LGBT film festival as a "foreign agent".
Earlier this year the Side by Side (Bok o Bok) festival, which has been operating since 2007, had been fined 400,000 rubles (almost £8,000) and named as a "foreign agent" by authorities, due to suspicions it received funding from overseas (denied by the festival).
Now, however, St Petersburg's city court has cancelled the fine as well as the conviction, in a ruling that cannot be overturned itself.
The festival's organisers said in a statement: "We are pleased with the decision and finally justice has been done!" Referring to the fact that a string of organisations have been targeted for alleged overseas financing, they added: "We hope that other NGOs also being prosecuted under this ("foreign agent') law will also win, restoring justice to the court system in Russia."
Andrew Pulver
theguardian.com, Monday 14 October 2013 10.53 BST
Campaigners against Russia's increasingly severe crackdown on gay rights will be cheering a small victory, after a court in St Petersburg overturned a verdict on appeal which had condemned a longstanding LGBT film festival as a "foreign agent".
Earlier this year the Side by Side (Bok o Bok) festival, which has been operating since 2007, had been fined 400,000 rubles (almost £8,000) and named as a "foreign agent" by authorities, due to suspicions it received funding from overseas (denied by the festival).
Now, however, St Petersburg's city court has cancelled the fine as well as the conviction, in a ruling that cannot be overturned itself.
The festival's organisers said in a statement: "We are pleased with the decision and finally justice has been done!" Referring to the fact that a string of organisations have been targeted for alleged overseas financing, they added: "We hope that other NGOs also being prosecuted under this ("foreign agent') law will also win, restoring justice to the court system in Russia."
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/14/russia-lgbt-film-festival-wins-appeal-foreign-agent
