MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian court on Monday began the trial of a feminist artist and activist accused of distributing pornography for sharing artistic representations of the female anatomy online.
The case is in line with the Kremlin’s conservative strategy of upholding “traditional family values”, which has caused much controversy and sparked international outrage.
Yulia Tsvetkova, 27, from the eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, faces up to six years in prison on charges related to her group on the popular social network VKontakte, where she shared colorful drawings of vulvas. Tsvetkova is not authorized to elaborate on the accusations against her.
The first court hearing in Komsomolsk-on-Amur was held a year and a half after the artist’s arrest, and eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage and charge the government to “preserve traditional family values.”
Tsvetkova maintains her innocence and her defense team intends to prove it in court, according to her lawyer, Irina Ruchko, in statements to the press after the court hearing.
Tsvetkova ran a children’s theater and was an active defender of feminism and LGBT rights. She founded an online group called Vagina Monologues in which she urged people to combat stigma and taboo around the female body, and shared other people’s artwork.
Amnesty International last week described the trial, which is being held behind closed doors, as “Kafkaesque absurdity” and urged the Russian authorities to drop all charges against the activist, who only “freely expressed her views through art”.
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