A Russian artist and LGBT-activist, Yulia Tsvetkova, has been put on the federal wanted list and arrested in absentia for six months on charges of “spreading pornography”, the Telegram page of support for Tsvetkova reported on Wednesday.
Tsvetkova’s case has spanned months, with her initially being acquitted of any wrongdoing, however, an appeal court later annulled the acquittal and the case was remanded for a new trial.
Tsvetkova was charged with “disseminating pornography” in 2019 for posting drawings of vaginas online. The court hearings on her case were held behind closed doors, as the hearings might have “revealed intimate details of the participants’ lives” and involve consideration of “materials deemed to be pornographic by the prosecution”, according to the court. She was also added to the registry of “foreign agents”, a designation the government applies to citizens who allegedly received foreign funding, last July. She left Russia several months later.
