Russia angry at fine for ‘anti-gay’ discrimination

Moscow has hit back at a European Court of Human Rights ruling that it discriminated against gay people.

Three gay activists – Nikolay Bayev, Aleksey Kiselev and Nikolay Alekseyev – were fined for staging protests outside a school, a children’s library and a government building. They held banners saying homosexuality was not a perversion.

The European rights court said the fines breached freedom of expression and anti-discrimination rules. It ordered Russia to pay the men total damages of €43,000 (£38,000).

Russia’s justice ministry said it would appeal and that its law was meant “to defend morality and children’s health” and did not amount to a ban or public condemnation of homosexuality.