Online cinema Start was fined 3.7 million rubles. for unlabeled LGBT films

The Cheryomushkinsky Court of Moscow fined the Start online cinema for demonstrating non-traditional relationships to minors. The amount of the administrative fine is 3.7 million rubles. We are talking about the Italian film “Perfect Strangers”, released without marking “18+”, reports TASS with reference to his correspondent.

The court found the cinema guilty under part 2 of article 6.21.2 “Dissemination among minors of information demonstrating non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences, or capable of causing minors to desire to change their sex.”

Start representatives told the Beware the News Telegram channel that the lawsuit concerns a fragment of the film Perfect Strangers. They clarified that the trial concerns “exactly LGBT demonstrations, and not propaganda, these are fundamentally different articles.” In particular, the administrative case is connected with a fragment of the picture in which one of the characters comes out in front of his friends.

“Perfect Strangers is an Italian film that has been licensed by our service. The marking, originally fixed in the rental certificate – 16+, issued by the Ministry of Culture, has been changed on the platform, the project has long been available on START with the sign 18+. At the moment, the criteria for age marking of content and the definition of the concept of “LGBT demonstration” have not been fully formulated in legislation and regulations, which greatly complicates the work of online cinemas, ”this is how the cinema explained the situation with labeling.

According to TASS, during the trial, representatives of the company called the evidence inadmissible. “There are no events and composition of the offense in the case, we ask you to stop the proceedings,” they noted. The decision has not yet entered into force and can be appealed.

The court registered the protocol at Start.Ru LLC on May 29. At the same time, the capital’s courts also received administrative cases against Premier and Megafon, the owner of Megafon TV.

At the moment, most Russian online cinemas have been punished for showing LGBT people. Roskomnadzor drew up protocols for 19 streaming sites out of 23 operating in the country. Among those held liable, in addition to Start, are Kinopoisk, More.tv, ivi and Premier, who were fined 4 million rubles by a Moscow court. including for the lack of marking “18+” in the film “Perfect Strangers”.

Read more about the reasons for holding large streamers liable in the material. “Cinema theaters collected fines”

Polina Motyzlevskaya