Russian police on Tuesday took the head of the country’s top publishing house for questioning in a criminal case over the printing of LGBTQ books, a company spokesperson told AFP.
The Kremlin has for years been hardening repressive laws against the LGBTQ community as part of what President Vladimir Putin touts as a drive to promote “traditional values”, including cracking down on films, books, art and culture.
The ultra-conservative social turn has accelerated amid the Ukraine war, with strict censorship on media and the outlawing of what Moscow calls the “LGBT movement” as “extremist”.
Investigators were targeting Yevgeny Kapiev, the CEO of Russia’s largest publisher Eksmo, as part of a “criminal case on extremism” over the publication of books “dealing with LGBT themes,” Eksmo communication director Yekaterina Kozhanova told AFP.
The publisher’s finance director, head of distribution and deputy commercial director were also taken for questioning, she added.
The company also denied reports in state media, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, that its headquarters was being searched as part of the investigation.
AFP reporters at the company’s building on Tuesday saw no signs a police raid had taken place.
The probe into the publishing house was opened last year when more than 10 Eksmo staff were arrested after authorities said “LGBT propaganda” had been “detected” in several books published by a subsidiary of the group, called Popcorn Books.
Eksmo was founded in 1991 and leads Russia’s books market, publishing all genres of adult and children’s literature.
As part of the crackdown, Russia has in recent years targeted LGBTQ clubs and bars, raiding them and arresting owners.
Courts have also issued fines and short-term jail sentences to people displaying LGBTQ “symbols”, such as clothes, jewellery or posters featuring the rainbow flag.
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