The “flagship” of LGBT promotion
Alexander Khinshtein wrote on his Telegram channel that after his demands, a criminal case was opened in the country against the “infamous Popcorn Books” publishing house for LGBT propaganda.
“As it can be understood from the reply given by the Ministry of Interior to my request, 2009 art. 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences, sex change) was launched on December 28 by the Golyanovo Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the same time, the case was initiated in accordance with Art. 20.1 (petty hooliganism),” wrote the deputy.
He hopes that “the case will go to court and Popcorn Books, which has openly challenged the state, will get what it deserves.”
According to Khinshtein, the publishing house is “one of the flagships” for promoting LGBT literature in the country. According to him, after a new law went into effect in December banning the promotion of unconventional sexual relations, Popcorn Books “not only continued to sell such books, but also began to boldly adorn their covers with quotations from Article 29, which guarantees freedom of expression and banning censorship.” Constitution.”
Constitution banning LGBT individuals
On December 5, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a package of laws banning LGBT propaganda, sex reassignment and pedophilia. Violators of the ban face fines of up to 10 million rubles.
On December 7, Reedus editors reported that Popcorn Books had changed the covers of some of its books containing the “ban” after the new law went into effect. The covers of “Summer with a Pioneer Tie” and “What the Swallow Is Silent About” contained excerpts from the fifth paragraph of article 29 of the basic law of Russia, according to which the country “guarantees freedom of mass communication” and “censorship is prohibited.”
according to information published On the publication’s website, “Popcorn Books, a Moscow-based book publisher that publishes exciting fiction books that touch on ‘disturbing’ topics: issues of self-identification, racism and sexism, attitudes towards one’s own body.”
Reedus journalists recalled that LitRes, one of the largest home services for the sale of electronic and audiobooks, appealed to authors with a request to impose self-censorship in connection with new restrictions on LGBT propaganda. And the OZONE market started hiding the covers of the biographies of Freddie Mercury and Elton John even before the law went into effect.
“Open Fight”
On December 9, Khinshtein wrote on his Telegram channel that “Popcorn Books, specializing in LGBT literature, has decided to openly fight the Russian state and society.”
“Of course our laws have nothing to do with censorship. Freedom of expression does not mean tolerance. Otherwise, referring to article 29, you can publish any Nazi or terrorist literature: for example, Mein Kampf (My Struggle, Adolf Hitler – socialbites.ca) or Wahhabi teachings, ”the parliamentarian wrote.
According to the MP, Popcorn Books’ attempts to present the fight against LGBT propaganda as “obstruction of free speech” is “not surprising”. Khinshtein said that the director and founder of the publishing house is “Alexei Dokuchaev, an outspoken dissident” (known as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation).
“Until recently, 65.5% of the publishing house belonged to the Irish company Bookmate Limited, which was recognized in the autumn as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation. In other words, anti-Russian forces openly engage in LGBT propaganda in Russia and even ostentatiously ignore our laws, as if testing the power of the state,” says Khinshtein.
He concluded that he “accepted the challenge” and sent requests to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rospotrebnadzor and Roskomnadzor to “bring the Popcorn Books to justice”.
“I believe that the publisher’s actions immediately fall under two new articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Propaganda of unconventional sexual relations and (or) preferences, gender reassignment propaganda Pedophilia propaganda If Popcorn Books is the first to be prosecuted, the State Duma deputy will be in all respects fair and natural according to our laws,” he said.