Interregional Public Movement The Russian LGBT Network suggested to the President of Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to initiate legislation of amendments to the penal law of Russia establishing responsibility for hate crimes towards gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

This means to make specific reference to sexual orientation and gender identity in a number of sections of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation. In case these amendments are accepted the courts will have to consider the commission of hate crimes or hostility towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as aggravating circumstances. Besides law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to refuse to institute criminal proceedings against people publicly dishonoring these groups.

“State and society should be equally intolerant towards attempts to incite hate and hostility towards all the minorities – racial, national, religious or sexual. Recently we have witnessed numerous unreasonably lenient sentences to those who killed people only because they didn’t like sexual orientation of the victim. Besides the investigating authorities and the courts do not respond to public appeals to isolation, treatment and even extermination of homosexual people. Such practice must be abolished at legislative level”, - said the chairman of Interregional Public Movement The Russian LGBT Network Igor Kochetkov (Petrov).