A court in Yekaterinburg has fined Sergei Nechaev, a former participant in hostilities in Chechnya, a travesty show artist (pseudonym Bomba Kibersisi), for performing the Russian anthem with an LGBT flag in his hands. This is reported by the correspondent of the local edition of Itʼs My City.
Nechaev was found guilty under the article on violation of the use of state symbols of Russia (17.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). He was given the minimum sentence, as the artist pleaded guilty.
The court decision says that Nechaev, in the role of an actor disguised as a person of the opposite sex, "in a woman's dress with the use of female makeup, demonstrating his sexual preference" violated the procedure for using the state symbol of Russia. The official wording also noted that the artist throughout the performance "actively waved the LGBT flag, symbolizing the diversity of sexual gender identity based on culture and used to refer to homosexual, bisexual and transgender people."
Earlier, a video appeared on the network in which Nechaev apologized for performing the anthem with a rainbow flag. He was forced to apologize by nationalists from the "Russia Conservative" movement. In the video, the artist says:
“I voluntarily want to apologize to the Russian people for insulting their national feelings. I am grateful to the guys for having convincingly conveyed to me the understanding that such behavior is unacceptable. I regret what I did and it won't happen again."
