Lawyers treat Kuban girls' apologies for kiss as attempt to reduce the negative

The two girls from Krasnodar, who were subject to administrative protocols for LGBT* propaganda after a video with their kiss, have apologized, trying to reduce the negative consequences, lawyers have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 6, it became known that a Krasnodar blogger and her friend shot a video where one proposes to the other, after which they kiss passionately. Protocols were drawn up against both of them for promoting non-traditional sexual relations. The girls apologized and stated that their goal was not to promote LGBT* people.

According to the lawyer of the SK SOS Crisis Group**, people apologize, "because there has been such a vicious practice: forcing people to apologize after any offenses, especially if they became public."

"The court can consider these apologies and take them into account, but this is solely at the court's discretion. But here we also need to take into account that now, apparently, some command has been sent down from above to punish such offenses as harshly as possible," the lawyer has emphasized. At the same time, in his opinion, it is unlikely that administrative protocols can be reclassified as criminal cases.

Ksenia Mikhailova, a lawyer of the organization "Vykhod" (Way Out)** also believes that administrative cases cannot be reclassified as criminal ones; however, in her opinion, their very validity "raises huge doubts." "An apology in this case can, in theory, reduce the size of the fine, but people apologize more likely out of fear of extralegal prosecution," she has noted.

*On November 30, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the movement an "extremist organization" and banned the "international public movement of LGBT people". With this decision, the court satisfied the claim of the Russian Ministry of Justice, sent to the court on November 17, 2023.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.